
Medical Books 
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aUIDE-BOOK 



OF 



PLORIDA AND THE SOUTH, 



FOR 



TOURISTS, INVALIDS AND EMIGRANTS, 

WITH A MAP OF TBE ST. JOHN RIVER, 
By DANIEL G. BRINTON, A. M., M. D., 



•* 






PHILADELPHIA :0' r 



GEORGE MACLEAJS", 719 SANSOif STi 



JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 

COLUMBUS DREW. 

1869. 




1 ^^^adia 






By Transfer 

''"^ *^§ 1917 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 

DANIEL G. BRINTON, A. M., M. D., 

In tlie Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in 
and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



FROM THE PKESS OF WTLIE & GRIEST, 

Inquirer Printing House and Book Bindery, Lancaster, Penn'a. 



FT 



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At 



^ PEEFACE. 



This unpretending little book is designed to give the visitor 
to Florida such information as will make his trip more useful 
and more pleasant. In writing it I have had in mind the ex- 
cellent European Guide-Books of Karl Baedeker, the best, to my 
mind, ever published. Though I have not followed his plan 
very closely, I have done so to the extent the character of our 
country seems to allow. 

I have borrowed from him the use of the asterisk (*) to de- 
note that the object so designated is especially notewoithy, or 
that the hotel thus distinguished is known to me to be well" 
kept, either from my own observation or that of friends. 

Most of the localities are described from my own notes taken 
during an extended tour through the peninsula, but for much 
respecting railroad fare, accommodations, and charges, I am in- 
debted to a large number of tourists and correspondents who 
have related to me their experience. To all these I express 
my warmest thanks for their assistance. 

As of course such matters are constantly changing, and as I 
shall be most desirous to correct any errors, and bring the 
work fully up to the times in future editions, I shall esteem it a 
particular favor if those who use this book will forward me any 
notes or observation which will aid me in improving it. Such 
communications may be addressed " care of the Penn Pub- 
lishing Co., 719 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, Penna." 

The map of the St. John River is based on that drawn by 
my friend, Mr. H. Lindenkohl, U. S. Coast Survey. 

Philadelphia, August, 1869, 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Preface iii 

Contents iv 

PRELIMINARY HINTS. 

1. Season for Southern Travel 9 

2. Preparations for the Journey 10 

PART I —SOUTHERN ROUTES. 

1. Steamship Lines 13 

2. Washington to Richmond 14 

3. Bichmond to Charleston 18 

4. Aiken, S. C, and the Southern Highlands 22 

5. Charleston to Savannah 26 

6. Savannah to Jacksonville 29 

PART 11.— FLORIDA. 

1. Historical. 32 

2. Books and Maps 3§ 



V 

Page. 

3. Physical Geogi-aphy of Florida. 1. Geographical For- 

mation. 2. Soil and Crops. 3. Climate and Health. 

4. Vegetable and Animal Life 37 

4. The St. John River and St. Augustine (Indian River,) 52 

5. Jacksonville to Tallahasse, Quincy, and St. Marks. ... 81 

6. The Oklawaha River and the Silver Spring 88 

7. Fernandina to Cedar Keys 93 

8. Key West, the Florida Keys and the Gulf Coast 97 

9. The Western Coast (Tampa, Apalachicola, Pensacola, 

Mobile) 1G6 

PART III.— CHAPTERS TO INVALIDS. 

I. When is a change of climate advisable ? 11.5 

IE. What climate shall be chosen ? 120 

III. Where is the best Southern winter climate?. ........ 128 

ly. Some hints to Health-Seekers 130 



a XJ I D E - B O O K 

OF 

FLORIDA AND THE SOUTH. 



PRELIMINARY HINTS. 



THE SEASON FOR SOUTHERN TRAVEL. 

The season for Southern travel commences in Octobf r 
and ends in May. After the latter month the periodi- 
cal rains commence in Florida, and the mid-day heat is 
relaxing and oppressive . About mid-summer th e swamp 
miasm begins to pervade the low grounds, and spreads 
around them an invisible poisonous exhalation, into 
which the traveler ventures at his peril. This increases 
in violence until September, when it loses its power 
with the returning cold. "When one or two sharp frosts 
have been felt in l!^ew York or Philadelphia, the dan- 
ger is chiefly past. ISTevertheless, for mere considera- 
tions of health. November is soon enough to reach the 
Gulf States. Those who start earlier will do well to 
linger in some of the many attractive spots on their way 
through the more Northern States. A congestive chill 
is a serious matter, and even the lightest attack of fever 
and ague can destroy the pleasure and annul the bene- 
fit of a winter's tour. 



10 

PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY. 

The comfort of a journey is vastly enhanced by a few 
simple precautions before starting. And if I seem too 
minute here, it is because I am writing for many to 
whom the little miseries of traveling are real afflic- 
tions. 

Before you leave home have your teeth thoroughly set 
in order by a skilful dentist. If there has been a phil- 
osopher who could tranquilly bear a jumping toothache, 
his name is not on record 

A necessaire containing soap, brushes, and all the et- 
ceteras of the toilet is indispensable. It is prudent in 
many parts of the South to carry your own towels. 

Spectacles of plain glass, violet, light green, or light 
grey, are often a comfort in the sun and in the cars, and 
if the ej^es are weak should not be omitted. 

A strong, silk musquito net, with fine meshes, will be 
highly prized in the autumn nights. A teaspoonful of 
carbolic acid or camphor, sprinkled in the room, or an 
ointment of cold cream scented with turpentine, will be 
found very disagreeable to these insects, and often equ- 
ally so to the traveler. 

One or two air cushions take up but little room, and 
should be provided for every invalid. 

Shoes are preferable for ordinary journeys. In their 
make, let reason and not fashion rule. They should be 
double soled, have low and broad heels, lace firmly 
around the ankle, and fit loosely over the toes. Eubber 
boots or overshoes should be abolished, especially from 
the invalid's outfit. Eubber overcoats are equally ob- 
jectionable. They are all unwholesome contrivances. 
A pair of easy slippers must always be remembered. 



11 

For ladies a hood, for gentlemen a felt hat, are the 
proper head-dresses on the route. 

In all parts of the South woolen clothing is required 
in winter, and flannel under-clothing should be worn by 
every one who goes there in pursuit of health. Kext 
to flannel, cotton is to be recommended. It is more a 
non-conductor of heat than linen, and thus better pro- 
tects the body from changes of temperature. 

Every person in feeble health — and those who are 
robust will not find the suggestion amiss — should have 
with them a few cases of devilled ham, sardines, potted 
meats, German sausage, or other savory and portable 
preparations, which, with the assistance of a few crack- 
ers or a piece of bread, will make a good lunch. A 
flask of wine or something similar, helps out such an 
impromptu meal. Frequently it is much better than 
to gulp down a badly cooked dinner in the time allow- 
ed by the trains. 

A strong umbrella, and a stout pocket knife, are in- 
dispensable. Guns, ammunition, rods, and fishing 
tackle should always be provided before starling. They 
should be well protected from dampness, especially the 
guns and powder. Florida is the paradise of the sports- 
man, and those who are able should not omit to have a 
" camp hunt" while there. Tents, camp equipage, and 
the greater part of the supplies should be purchased in 
the Korth, as they are dearer and not often the best 
in the Southern cities. 

On arriving at a hotel, first see that your baggage is 
safe ; then that your room is well aired, and the sheets 
on the bed dry. 

It is always well in traveling to have baggage enough 



12 

— always a bother to have too much. A good sized 
leather traveling-bag will do fer the single mart; but 
where a lady is attached, a medium sized leather trunk, 
which can be expressed or " checked through," and a 
light traveling-bag, to be taken into the cars and state- 
rooms, and carried in the hand, are the requisites. 

Money can be transmitted so readily by certified check 
or draft, that a tourist need not carry much with him. 
He should, however, have a reserve fund about him, so 
as to be prepared for one of those disagreeable emer- 
gencies which nearly every veteran traveler has at some 
time experienced. 

Every one who visits a strange land should strive to 
interest himself in its condition, resources, history and 
peculiarities. The invalid, beyond all others, should 
cultivate an interest in his surroundings. Kothing so 
well sustains a failing body as an active mind. For 
that purpose, local histories, maps, etc., should always 
be purchased. I have indicated, under the different 
cities, what works there are of this kind in the market, 
and, in the introductory remarks on Florida, have men- 
tioned several of a more general character, which should 
be purchased and read before going there. (For fur- 
ther hints see the last chapter of this work.) 



PAKT I. 

SOUTHERN ROUTES. 



1. STEAMSHIP LINES. 

In visiting the South Atlantic States the tourist from 
the North has a choice of a number of routes. 

Steamers leave Kew York for Charleston, Savannah, 
Fernandina, and Key West, advertisements of which 
giving days of sailing can be seen in the principal daily 
papers. Philadelphia has regular steamship lines to 
Charleston, Savannah, and Key West. From Charles- 
ton and Savannah boats run every other day to Fernan- 
dina, Jacksonville , and Palatka on the St. John river. 
The whole or a portion of a journey to Florida can be 
accomplished by water, and the steamships are decidedly 
preferable to the cars for those who do not suffer much 
from sea sickness. 

The most direct route by railroad is the " Atlantic 
Coast Line," by way of Washington, Acquia Creek, 
Eichmond, Petersburg, Weldon, Wilmington, and 
Charleston. From Philadelphia to Wilmington the 
time is 28 hours, fare $21.90; to Charleston 40 hours, 
fare $24.00 •, to Savannah, fare $33.00 ; to Jacksonville, 
fare $38.65. Through tickets and full information can 
be obtained in New York at 193 Broadway ; Philadel- 
phia 828 Chestnut Street. 



14 

It is proposed to establish a direct line of steamers 
from New York to Jacksonville. It is to be hoped that 
this will be done promptly, as it will greatly increase 
trade and travel. 

2. "WASHINGTOW TO KICHMOND. 

Distance, 130 miles; time 7.30 hours. 

Until the tourist leaves Washington, he is on the 
beaten track of travel, and needs no hints for his guid- 
ance ; or, if he does, can find them in abundance. 
Turning his face southward, he may leave our capital 
either in the cars from the Baltimore depot to Alexan- 
dria and Acquia Creek, or, what is to be recommended 
as the more pleasant alternative, he may go by steam- 
boat to this station, a distance of 55 miles. The banks 
of the Potomac present an attractive diversity of high- 
land and meadow. A glimpse is caught of Mt. Yernon, 
and those who desire it can stop and visit those scenes 
once so dear to him whose memory is dear to us all. 
The reminiscences, however, which one acquires by a 
visit to Mount Vernon are rarely satisfactory. 

From Acquia Creek landing the railroad passes 
through a country still betraying the sears and scars of 
conflict, though, happily, it is recovering in some meas- 
ure from those sad experiences. Fredericksburg (15 
miles; hotel, the Planter's House, poor,) may have 
enough of interest to induce some one to "layover" a 
train. It is an unattractive spot, except for its histori- 
cal associations. These are so fresh in the memory of 
most that it is unnecessary to mention them. 

Beyond Fredericksburg a number of stations are 
passed — none of any size. The distance to Richmond is 
60 miles. 



15 

Richmond. 

Hotels. — Ballard House ($4.00 per day); Spottswood, 
Exchange (each 12 per day) ; Ford's Hotel on Capitol 
Square ($2.50 per day) ; St. Charles ($2.00.) 

Boarding jEfow^e*.— Arlington House, corner Main and 
6th street; Valentine House, on Capitol Square ; Rich- 
mond House, corner Governor and Ross streets; Mrs. 
Bidgood's, 61 East Main street; Mrs. Brander, 107 E. 
Eranklin street, (all about $12.00 per week). 

Telegraph Offices in Spottswood and Exchange Hotels* 

Reading Rooms at the Y. M. C. A. The Virginia State 
Library was pillaged in 1865, and the Virginia Histori- 
cal Library burned. 

Theatre. — The Richmond Theatre has a respectable 
stock company, and is visited by most of the stars of 
the stage. 

Booksellers. — West & Johnson, 1006 Main St., (Brin- 
ton's Guide-Boole.) 

Churches of all denominations. 



Richmond derives it name from the ancient burgh of 
the same name on the Thames. The word is supposed 
to be a corruption of rotre mont^ and applies very well 
to the modern namesake. Like Rome, it is seated upon 
seven hills, and if it has never commanded the world, 
it will be forever famous as the seat of the government 
of the whilom Confederacy. It is situated at the Great 
Falls of the James river, on the Richmond and Shoccoe 
hills, between which flows the Shoccoe creek. 

In the early maps of the colony, the site of the present 
city is marked as " Byrd's Warehouse," an ancient trad- 



16 

ing post, we can imagine, said to have stood where the 
Exchange hotel is now built. In 1742 the city was es- 
tablished, and has ever since been the chief center of 
Yirginian life. 

The capitol is a showy edifice, on Shoccoe hill. The 
plan was taken from the Mais on Quarre, of Kismes, 
with some modifications, among others the Doric pillars. 
It stands in the midst of a square of eight acres. In 
this building the Confederate Congress held its sessions. 
It contains, among other objects, a well cut statue of 
Washington, dating from the last century, '■'' fait par 
Houdin, citoyen Francais^^'' as we learn from the inscrip- 
tion, and a bust of Lafayette. Two relics of the old 
colonial times are exhibited — the one a carved chair 
which once belonged to the house of Burgesses, of 
Norfolk — the other a huge stove, of singular shape, 
bearing the colonial arms of Virginia in relief. This 
latter is tlie product of a certain Buzaglo. It is eight or 
ten feet high, and slopes from base to summit. A let- 
ter of the inventor is extant, addressed to Lord Bote- 
tourt, in which he speaks of it as " excelled anything 
ever seen of the kind, and a masterpiece not to be ex- 
celled in all Europe." 

In the square around the capitol is an* equestrian 
statue of Gen. George Washington, constructed by 
Crawford, and erected February 22, 1858. Its total 
height is sixty feet. Around its base are six pedestals, 
upon which are figures of Thomas Jefferson, Patrick 
Henry, Marshall, Gov. ISTelson, George Mason and An- 
drew Lewis, the latter an Indian fighter, once of celeb- 
rity in Western Virginia. 

To the left of this is a small statue of Henry Clay, 



17 

erected by the ladies of Virginia, made by Hart, and 
inaugurated in 1860. 

On the eastern side of the square is the residence of 
the Governor, and on another side the City Hall, a 
handsome edifice with Doric columns. 

St. John's Church, on Richmond Hill, is the oldest 
church edifice in the city. The tower and belfry are, 
however, a modern addition. From its church-yard, 
dotted with ancient tombs, one of the most charming 
views of the city can be obtained. In this church, in 
1775, the young and brilliant orator, Patrick Henry, 
delivered his famous oration before the Virginia Con- 
vention, which concludes with the famous words, "Give 
me liberty, or give me death." 

The Tredegar Iron Works, Libby Prison, at the cor- 
ner of Thirty-fifth and Main streets. Belle Isle, and 
Castle Thunder, will be visited by most tourists as ob- 
jects of interest. ^Hollywood cemetery, near the city 
is a quiet and beautiful spot, well deserving a visic. 

In the fire of April 2, 1865, about one thousand build- 
ings were destroyed, but the ravages of that disastrous 
epoch are now nearly concealed by new and handsome 
structures. 

The Falls of the James are properly rapids, the bed 
of the river making a descent of only eighty feet in 
two miles. They furnish a valuable water-power. 

^Hollywood Cemetery, one mile from the city, is a 
spot of great natural beauty. Here lie the remains of 
Presidents Monroe and Tyler, and other distinguished 
men, as well as of many thousand Confederate soldiers. 
A rough granite monument has recently been erected 
m memory of the latter. 



18 

Butler's Dutch Gap and Drewy's Bluff, and the fa- 
mous battle fields near the city, will be visited with in- 
terest by many. 

Those who would visit the mineral springs of Virginia, 
will find ample information in Dr. Moorhead's volume 
on them, or in that by Mr. Burke. Both can be ob- 
tained of West & Johnson, booksellers. Main street. 

The iN'atural Bridge, one of the most remarkable cu- 
riosities in the State, 'is best approached by way of 
Lynchburg, from which place it is distant 35 miles, by 
canal. 

3. KICHMOETD TO CHARLESTOjST. 

From Richmond to Petersburg is 32 miles on the 
Richmond and Petersburg railway. The earthworks 
and fortifications around the latter town, memorials of 
our recent conflict, are well worth a visit from those 
who have not already seen too many such curiosities to 
care for more. 

64 miles beyond Petersburg the train reaches Weldon, 
on the Roanoke river, a few miles within the boundary 
of Korth Carolina [GoucVs Hotel.) 

From Weldon to Goldsboro, the next stopping place 
of importance, is 78 miles, 7.30 hours. It is a place of 
about 5000 inhabitants, half white and half colored. 

Hotels. — Grriswold Hotel, Gregory's Hotel, both $3 
per day. 

Boarding House by Mrs Tompkms, $2 per day. 

The road here intersects the ISTorth Carolina, and At- 
lantic andKorth Carolina railways, the latter running to 
Morehead city and Beaufort, on the coast, (95 miles) 
and the former to Raleigh, the capitol of the State, (48 



19 

miles) and interior towns. From Goldsboro to Wil- 
mington is 84 miles. 

Hotels. — Purcell House, $4 per day; Fulton House, 
$3 per day. 

Boarding Houses. — McRea House, Brock's Exchange, 
about %2 per day, $40.00 per month. 

Newspapers. — Post^ republican, Journal^ democratic. 

Steamboat Line to Fayetteville , N. C, (130 miles, fare 
$5.00) ; to Smithville, at the mouth of Cape Fear, (30 
miles, fare $1.50.) 

Wilmington (16,000 inhabitants) is on Cape Fear 
river, 25 miles from the sea. It is well built. The staples 
are turpentine and resinous products. The vicinity is 
flat and sandy. At this point the railroad changes from 
the Kew York guage, 5 feet, to the Charleston guage, 
4 feet 8 inches. 

The journey from Richmond to Charleston can als6 
be made by way of Greensboro, Charlotte and Colum- 
bia. This route leads through the interior of the coun- 
try, and, though longer, offers a more diversified scene 
to the eye. 

To Greensboro, on the Richmond & Danville and 
Piedmont Railways, is 189 miles ; thence on the IS'orth 
Carolina Railway to Charlotte, 93 miles; then on the 
Charlotte & S. Carol,\na railway to Columbia, S. C, 107 
miles (Nickerson's hotel, $3.00 per day, newly fitted up) ; 
thence by the Columbia Branch of the South Carolina 
Railway to Charleston, 130 miles. 

Salisbury, IST. C, 150 miles south of Greensboro, is the 
most convenient point to enter the celebrated mountain 
regions of ISTorth Carolina. A railway runs thence to 
Morgantown, in the midst of the sublime scenery of the 



20 

Black mountains, and in close proximity to the beauti- 
ful falls of the Catawba. Charlotte {hotel, the Mansion 
House), is in the center of the gold region of Korth 
Carolina, and the site of a United States Branch Mint. 
It is also the scene of the battle of Guilford Court House, 
during the revolutionary war. 

The capitol, in Columbia, is considered a very hand- 
some building. 

Charleston. 

Hotels. — ^'Charleston Hotel, Mills House (newly fur- 
nished), both on Meeting Street. Charges, $4.00 per 
day. ^Pavilion Hotel, Mr. Butterfield, proprietor, $3.00 
perday,also on Meeting Street. Planter's Hotel, Church 
Street, Victoria House, King Street, both $2.50 per day. 

Telegraph Office, on Broad near Church Street ; branch 
office in Charleston Hotel. 

Post Office, on Hazel Street, near Meeting. 

Churches. — Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Huguenot, 
Methodist, &c. 

Theatre, at the corner of King and Market Streets. 

Bathing Houses. — One of salt water near the battery ; 
two, with water of the artesian well, one at the well, 
the other in the Charleston Hotel. 

Livery Stable, 21 Pinckney Street, connected with the 
Charleston Hotel. 

Street Cars run on several of the streets ; fare, 10 cts., 
15 tickets for $1.00. All the hotels have omnibuses 
waiting at the depots. 

Physician. — Dr. Geo. Caulier, 158 Meeting Street. 

Newspapers. — The Daily Courier, the Daily News. 

Depots. — The depot of the Northeastern R. R. from 
Wilmington to the north, is at the corner of Chapel 



21 

and Washington Sts. ; that of the road to Savannah is 
at the foot of Mill street ; and that of the S. C. R. R. 
to Aikin, Augusta, Atlanta, etc., is iu Line street, be- 
tween King and Meeting streets. 

Bookseller. — John Russell, 288 King street. (Brin- 
ton^s Guide-Book.) 

Libraries. — Charleston library, 30,000 vols. ; Appren- 
tices' library, 12,000 vols. 



Charleston claims 40,000 inhabitants, the whites and 
blacks being about equal in number. It is curious that 
since the war the mortality of the latter has been twice 
as great as of the whites. 

The city is seven miles from the ocean at the junc- 
tion of the Ashley and Cooper rivers, and has an ex- 
cellent harbor, surrounded by works of defence. On 
the sea line is Fort Moultrie ; Castle Pinkney stands 
at the entrance to the city ; south of the latter is Fort 
Ripley, built of palmetto logs ; while in the midst of 
the harbor stands the famous Fort Sumter. 

The ravages caused by the terrible events of the late 
war have yet been only very partially repaired in 
Charleston. The greater part of the burnt district is 
deserted and waste. 

The history of Charleston, previous to that event, is 
not of conspicuous interest. The city was first com- 
menced by English settlers, in 1672, and for a long time 
had a struggling existence. Many of its early inhabi- 
tauts were Huguenots, who fled thither to escape the 
persecutions which followed the revocation of the edict 
of iNTantes. A church is still maintained in which their 
ancient worship is celebrated. 



22 

Of public buildings, the ancient church of St. Mich- 
ael's, built about 1750, has some claim to architectural 
beauty. 

The fashionable quarter of the city is the Battery. 
^Magnolia cemetery, on the Cooper river, is well 
worth a visit. It is one of the most beautiful in the 
South. It was laid out in 1850, and contains some hand- 
some monuments. 

The Custom House is a fine building, of white marble. 

Those who wish to visit Fort Sumter, and review the 
scenes of 1861, can be accommodated by a small sailing 
vessel, which leaves the wharf every morning at 10.30 
o'clock. 

In the church-yard of St. Philip's is the tomb of John 
C. Calhoun. A slab, bearing the single word "Calhoun," 
marks the spot. 

The museum of the Medical College is considered 
one of the finest in the United States. 



4. AIKEIT, S. C, AWD THE SOUTHERN HIG-H- 
LAK"DS. 

Within the past ten years the advantages for invalids 
of a residence in the highlands of the Carolinas, Geor- 
gia and Tennessee have been repeatedly urged on the 
public. The climate in these localities is dry and mild, 
exceedingly well adapted, therefore, for such cases as 
find the severe cold of Minnesota irritating, and the 
moist warmth of Florida enervating. Aiken, S. C, 
Atlanta, Ga., Lookout Mountain, near Chattanooga, 
East Tennessee, and other localities otfer good ac- 
commodations, and have almost equal advantages in 



23 

point of climate. Like other resorts, they do not agree 
with all invalids, but they are suitable for a large class. 

One of the best known and most eligible is 
Aiken, South Carolina. 

Distance from Charleston, by the South Carolina 
Railroad, 120 miles. Time 8 hours. Two trains daily. 
Fare $6. 

Hotels. — The Aiken Hotel, H. Smyser, proprietor. 
Engage rooms a week ahead. Fare, $3.00 per day. A 
Sanitarium is in process of construction on a beautiful 
eminence west of the town. 

Boarding can be obtained in a number of private fam- 
ilies. 

Telegraph station at the depot. 

Livery Stables^ two. Horse and buggy, $4.00 per 
day ; saddle horse, $2.50 per day. 

Churches. — Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist and 
Baptist. 

The town has about 1,500 inhabitants, though the 
passing traveler would not think so, as the railroad 
passes through a deep cut, which conceals most of the 
houses. Whites and blacks are about equal in number. 
The streets are wide, sandy, and not very neat. 

The site is on the ridge which divides the valleys of 
the Edisto and Savannah rivers. At this point the ele- 
vation is 600 feet above sea level. The loose soil of si- 
liceous sand and red clay, and the rapid declivities, in- 
sure an excellent drainage. The water is clear, and 
contains some traces of iron and magnesia, rather ben- 
elficial than otherwise. 

The climate is agreeable in both winter and summer. 
The mean temperature of the year is 62 degrees Fah- 



24 

renheit ; of the three winter months 46.5, 45 and 50 de- 
grees. The thermometer rarely registers under 20 de- 
grees. Rain falls to the depth of 37 inches annually, 
the wettest season being in summer. Frosts commence 
about the middle of November, and cease about the 
last of March. The prevailing winds are southerly in 
summer, easterly and northerly in winter. The dew 
point is always low, indicating a dry atmosphere. Ma- 
larial diseases are asserted to be entirely unknown. 

The soil is lauded, and with justness, for its fitness for 
fruit culture. Orchards, vineyards and garden plots are 
exceedingly productive, but the more staple crops do 
not correspond in excellence. The wines of Aiken have 
long been known in commerce. Though not high fla- 
vored, with none of the bouquet which lends such value 
to the vintages of the Upper Rhine, they are a pure 
and healthy beverage. It must be remembered that 
agriculture, in the sense of the word in Pennsylvania 
and Kew York, is almost an unknown art in this part 
of the South. 

Except its advantages in connection with health, 
Aiken offers little to attract the tourist. In the stone 
quarries near the railroad the geologist can collect some 
very good specimens of fossil shells and corals from the 
tertiary limestone. The buhr mill-stone abounds in 
this region, and has been successfully tried in mills. 
Prof. Tuomey in a report on the geology of the State 
pronounces these equal to the best French stones. They 
have , however, never been put in the market with energy. 

The wine cellars, especially that of Mr. TValker, will 
have attractions for those who delight to please the 
pallet with the juice of the grape. And the porcelain 



25 

works near by, where stone ware is manufactured from 
the kaolin clay, may form the objective point of a pleas- 
ant excursion. If one's inclinations are to sport, a ride 
of a few miles from town in any direction will bring one 
to good partridge cover, while the numerous streams 
in the vicinity are fairly stocked with trout, jack, bream 
and perch. Pic-nics in .the pine woods, and excursions 
over the hills always supply ladies with means of inhal- 
ing the healthful air and enjoying invigorating exercise* 

Atlanta. 

From Aiken to Augusta, 16 miles, $1.00. From Au- 
gusta to Atlanta by the Georgia railway, 171 miles, 
S8.50 ; 11 hours. 

Hotels, — The National, on Peach Tree Street, $4.00 
per day; the United States and the American, oppo- 
site the depot, $3.00 per day. 

Telegraph Office in Kimball's Opera House. Post 
Office, corner of Alabama and Broad streets. 

Batliing House on Alabama street, near IT. S. Hotel. 

Circulating Library at the Young Men's Library As- 
sociation on Broad street. 



Atlanta has about 20,000 inhabitants. The water is 
pure, the air bracing, and the climate resembles that 
of Northern Italy- The Walton Springs are in the 
city, furnishing a strongly chalybeate water, much 
used, and with great success, as a tonic. The fall and 
spring months are peculiarly delightful, and the vicinity 
offers many pleasant excursions. 

Communication by rail either to Chattanooga and 
East Tennessee, or south to Macon, etc., is conveni- 
ent. 



26 
5— FROM CHABLESTON" TO SAVAnSTISTAH. 

The tourist has the choice of the railway via Coosaw- 
hatchie, or via Augusta, Georgia, or the steamers. The 
first mentioned road was destroyed during the war, and 
is not yet in running order. 

Steamboats also leave Charleston every Thursday 
and Saturday, direct for Fernandina, Jacksonville and 
Palatka, and should be chosen by those who do not 
suffer from seasickness. They are roomy, and the table 
well supplied. 

Sayaknah. 

Hotels. — *Screven House, Pulaski House, both S4.00 a 
day. ^Marshall House, $3.00 per day, $15.00 per week, 
an excellent table. *Pavilion Hotel, Mr. Koe, Proprie- 
tor; a quiet, pleasant house for invalids, $3.00 per 
day. 

Boarding Houses. — Mrs. McAlpin, South Broad 
street ; Mrs. Kollock, South Broad street ; Mrs. Savage, 
Barnard Street ; all $3.00 per day, $14.00 per w^eek. 

Post Office and Telegraph Office on Bay street, near 
the Pulaski House. 

Street Cars start from the post oflSce to various parts 
of the city. Fare, 10 cents ; 14 tickets for $1.00. Om- 
nibuses meet the various trains, and steamboats will 
deliver passengers anywhere in the city for 75 cents 
each. 

Livery Stables are connected with all the hotels. 

Restaurants. — The best is the Restaurant Francais, in 
Whitaker Street, between Bay and Bryan Streets. 

Newspapers. — Daily Savannah News, Daily Morning 
News. 



- 27 

Bookstores. — J. Schreiner & Co., near the Pulaski 
House. (Brinton's Guide-Book, Historical Record of 
Savannah.) 

Depots. — The Central Railroad depot is in the south- 
western part of the city, corner of Liberty and E. 
Broad Streets. The railroad from Charleston has its 
terminus here. The Atlantic and Gulf Railroad is in the 
south-eastern part of thf city, corner of Liberty and 
E. Broad Streets. -- 



Savannah is situated in Chatham county, Ga., on a 
bluff, about forty feet high, seven miles above the 
mouth of the river of the same name, on its right bank. 
Its present population is estimated at 40,000. 

The city was founded by Gov. James Oglethorpe, in 
1733. It played a conspicuous part during the Revolu- 
tion. With characteristic loyalty to the cause of free- 
dom the Council of Safety passed a resolution in 1776 
to burn the town rather than have it fall into the hands 
of the British, ^everthless, two years afterwards the 
royal troops obtained possession of it by a strategic 
movement. In the autumn of 1779 the American forces 
under General Lincoln, and the distinguished Polish 
patriot, Count Casimir Pulaski, with their Frencli allies 
under Count d' Estaing, made a desperate but fruitless 
attempt to regain it by assault. Both the foreign 
noblemen were wounded in a night assault on the vrorks. 
Count Pulaski mortally. The spot where he fell is where 
the Central Railroad depot now stands. 

The chief objects of interest are the monuments. 
The ^finest is to the memory of Pulaski. It is in Chipe- 
wa square, and is a handsome shaft of marble, sur- 



28 

mounted by a statue of Liberty, and supported on abase 
of granite. Its height is 55 feet; its date of erection 
1853. 

An older and plainer monument, some fifty feet high, 
without inscription, stands in Johnson square. It was 
erected in 1829, and is known as the Greene and Pulas- 
ki monument. 

The city is beautifully laid out, diversified with nu- 
merous small squares, with wide and shady streets. 
Broad Street and Bay Street have each four rows of 
those popular southern shade trees known as the Pride 
of India, or China trees [Melia Azedarach). 

A praiseworthy energy has supplied the city with ex- 
cellent water, from public water works; and, in Forsyth 
Park, at the head of Bull Street, is a fountain of quite 
elal'orate workmanship. 

Some of the public buildings are well worth visiting. 
The Georgia Historical Society has an excellent edifice, 
on Bryan Street, with a library of 7,500 volumes, among 
which are said to be a number of valuable manuscripts. 

The ^Museum, on the northeast corner of Bull and 
Taylor streets, contains a number of local curiosities. 

The Custom House is a handsome fire-proof structure 
of Quincy granite. 

The Exchange building, now used as the Mayor's of- 
fice, etc., offers, from its top, the best view of the city. 

JSxcursions.—Seyevsd days can be passed extremely 
pleasantly in short excursions from the city. One of 
the most interesting of these v/ill be to 

*Bonaventure Cemetery. — This is situated 3 miles from 
the city, on the Warsaw river. A stately grove of live 
oaks, draped in the sombre weeds by the Spanish moss, 



29 

cast an appropriate air of pensiveness around this rest- 
ing place of past generations. A cab holding four per- 
sons to this locality costs $8.00. 

Thunderbolt^ a small town, (two hotels), 44 miles south- 
east of the city, on a creek of the same name, is worth 
visiting, chiefly for the beautiful drive which leads to it. 
Cab fare for the trip, $8.00. 

White Bluffs on the Yeruon river, 10 miles from the 
city has two unpretending hotels, and is a favorite re- 
sort of the citizens on account of the excellent shell road 
which connects it with the city. Cab fare for the trip, 
$10.00. 

Bethesda Orphan House, also 10 miles distant, is erect- 
ed on the site chosen by the Rev. Mr. Whitfield, very 
early in the history of the colony. Selina, the pious 
Countess of Huntingtop, took a deep interest in its wel- 
fare as long as she lived, and it is pleasant to think that 
now it is established on a permanent footing. 

Jasper Spring, 2 miles from the city, is pointed out 
as the spot where the bold Sergeant Jasper, with one 
assistant,. during the revolutionary war, surprised and 
captured eight Britishers, and forced them to release a 
prisoner. The thoughtless guard had stacked ai-ms and 
proceeded to the spring to drink, when the shrewd 
Sergeant who, anticipating this very move, was hidden 
in the bushes near by, rushed forward, seized the mus- 
kets, and, brought the enemy to instant terms. 

6. SAVANNAH TO JACKSONVILIiE. 

The tourist has the choice of three routes for this 

part of his journey. He can take a sea steamer, and 

passing out the Savannah river, see no more land until 

the low shores at the mouth of the St. John River come 



30 

in sight. Or he can choose one of several small steam- 
boats which ply in the narrow channels between the 
sea-islands and the main, touching at Brunswick, Da- 
rien, St. Catharine, Fernandina, etc., (fare $10.00). Or 
lastly he has the option of the railroad, which will 
carry him through to Jacksonville in twelve hours and 
a half, in a first class sleeping car. 

The channel along the coast lies through extensive 
salt marshes, intersected by numerous brackish creeks 
and lagoons. The boats are small, or they could not 
thread the mazes of this net-work of narrow water- 
courses. The sea-islands, famous all over the world 
for their long-staple cotton, have a sandy, thin soil, 
rising in hillocks and covered with a growth of live- 
oak, water-oak, bay, gum and pine. Between the is- 
lands and the main land the grassy marshes extend for 
several miles. In the distance the western horizon is 
hedged by a low wall of short-leaved pine. The sea 
islands are moderately healthy, but the main land is 
wet, flat and sterile, and its few inhabitants are ex- 
posed to the most malignant forms of malarial fever 
and pneumonia. 

On St. Catharine island is the plantation formerly 
owned by Mr. Pierce Butler, and the scene of Mrs. 
Francis Kemble Butler's well-known work, " Life on a 
Georgia Plantation." On Cumberland island, the most 
southern of the sea-islands belonging to Georgia, is the 
Dungerness estate, 6000 acres in extent, once owned by 
Gen. Kat. Greene, of Revolutionary fame, and recently 
bought by Senator Sprague, of Rhode Island, for $10 
per acre. With proper cultivation it would yield mag- 
nificent crops of sea-island cotton. 



31 

Fernandina on Amelia Island, the terminus of the 
Fernandina and Cedar Keys Railroad, is a town of 
growing importance (pop. about 2,000; hotels, Virginia 
House, containing the telegraph office ; the Whitfield 
House, both $3.00 per day; newspaper, the Island City 
Weekly.) This is one of the old Spanish settlements, 
and the traces of the indigo fields are still visible over 
a great part of the island. Fernandina-Oldtown is 
about a mile north of tne present site. 

The sub-tropical vegetation is quite marked on the 
island. Magnificent oleanders, large live oaks, and 
dense growths of mjTtle and palmettos conceal the 
rather unpromising soil. The olive has been cultivated 
with success, and there is no reason why a large supply 
of the best table oil should not be produced here. 

A low shell mound covers the beach at Fernandina, 
and in the interior of the island are several large Indian 
burial mounds. Several earthworks thrown up during 
the late war overlook the town and harbor. Fernan- 
dina harbor is one of the best in the South Atlantic 
Coast, landlocked and safe. Its depth is 6i fathoms, 
and the water on the bar at low tide is 14 feet. The 
tide rises from 6 to 7 feet. In spite of what seems its 
more convenient situation, Fernandina does not seem 
destined to be a rival of Jacksonville. 



PART II. 
FLOEID A 



1. HISTORICAL. 

Long before Columbus saw 
" the dashing, 
Silver-flashing, 
Surges of San Salvador," ' 
a rumor was abroad among the natives of the Bahamas, 
of Cuba, and even of Yucatan and Honduras, that in a 
land to the north was a fountain of water, whose crys- 
tal waves restored health to the sick, and youth to the 
aged. Many of the credulous islanders, forsaking their 
homes, ventured in their frail canoes on the currents 
of the Gulf, and never returning, were supposed to be 
detained by the delights of that land of perennial 
youth. 

This ancient fame still clings to the peninsula. The 
tide of wanderers in search of the healing and rejuve- 
nating waters still sets thitherward, and, with better 
fate than of yore, many an one now returns to his own, 
restored to vigor and life. Intelligence now endorses 
what superstition long believed. 

The country received its pretty and appropriate 
name. Terra florida, the Flowery Land, from Juan Ponce 
de Leon, who also has the credit of being its discoverer. 



33 

He first saw its shores on Easter Sunday, March 27, 
1513 — not 1512, as all the text books have it, as on that 
year Easter Sunday came on April 20th. 

At that time it was inhabited by a number of wild 
tribes, included in two families, the Timucuas, who 
dwelt on the lower St. John, and the Chahta-Muskokis, 
who possessed the rest of the country. In later times, 
the latter were displaced by others of the same stock 
known as Seminoles {istisemoU, wild men, or strangers). 
A remnant of these still exist, several hundred in num- 
ber, living on and around Lake Okee-chobee, in the 
same state of incorrigible savagery that they ever were, 
but now undisturbed and peaceful. 

The remains of the primitive inhabitants are abund- 
ant over the Peninsula. Along the sea shores and 
water courses are numerous heaps of shells, bones 
and pottery, vestiges of once populous villages ; small 
piles of earth and " old fields" in the interior still wit- 
ness to their agricultural character ; and large mounds 
from ten to twenty-five feet in height filled with human 
bones testify to the pious regard they felt toward their 
departed relatives, and the care with which, in accord- 
ance with the traditions of their race, they preserved 
the skeletons of the dead. As for those " highways" 
and "artificial lakes" which the botanist Bartram 
thought he saw on the St. John river, they have not 
been visible to less enthusiastic eyes. Mounds of stones, 
of large size and enigmatic origin, have also been 
found (Prof. Jeffries Wyman). 

For half a century after its discovery, no European 
power attempted to found a colony in Florida. Then, 
in 1562, the celebrated French Huguenot, Admiral da 



34 

Coligny, sent over a number of his own faith and na- 
tion, who erected a fort near the mouth of the St. John. 
As they were upon Spanish territory, to which they 
had no right, and were peculiarly odious to the Spanish 
temper by their religion, they met an early and 
disastrous fate. They were attacked and routed in 1565 
by a detatchment of Spaniards under the command of 
Pedro Menendez de Aviles, a soldier of distinction. 
The circumstance was not characterized by any greater 
atrocity than was customary on both sides in the relig- 
ious wars of the sixteenth century, but it has been a 
text for much bitter writmg since, and was revenged a 
few years after by a similar massacre by a French Pro- 
testant, Dominique de Gourgues, and a party of Hugue- 
nots. 

Pedro Menendez established at once (1565) the city of 
St. Augustine and showed himself a capable officer. 
Under the rule of his successors the Spanish sway grad- 
ually extended over the islands of the eastern coast, 
and the region of middle Florida. The towns of St. 
Marks and Pensacola were founded on the western 
coast, and several of the native tribes were converted to 
Christianity. 

This prosperity was rudely interrupted in the first de- 
cade of the eighteenth century by the inroads of the 
Creek Indians, instigated and directed by the English 
settlers of South Carolina. The churches were burned, 
the converts killed or scattered, the plantations de- 
stroyed, and the priests driven to the seaport towns. 

The colony languished under the rule of Spain until, 
in 1763, it was ceded to Great Britain. Some life was 
then instilled into it. Several colonies were planted on 



35 

the St. John river and the sea coast, and a small garri- 
son stationed at St. Marks. 

In 1770 it reverted once more to Spain, under 
whose rule it remained in an uneasy condition until 
1821, when it was purchased by the United States for 
the sum of five million dollars. Gen. Andrew Jackson 
was the first Governor, and treated the old inhabitants 
in his usual summary manner. In 1824 the seat of gov- 
ernment was fixed at Tallahassee, the site of an old 
Indian town. 

At the time of the purchase there were about 4,000 
Indians and refugee negroes scattered over the territory. 
These very soon manifested that jealousy of their rights, 
and resentment against the whites, which have ever 
since been their characteristics. From the time of the 
cession until the out-break of our civil struggle, the soil of 
Florida was the scene of one almost continual border war. 
The natives gave ground very slowly, and it was esti- 
mated that for every one of them killed or banished 
beyond the Mississippi by our armies, the general gov- 
ernment expended ten thousand dollars. 

2— BOOKS AND MAPS. 

The facts which I have here sketched in barest out- 
line have been told at length by many able writers. 
The visitor to the scene of so many interesting inci- 
dents should provide himself with some or all of the fol- 
lowing works, which will divert and instruct him iu 
many a lagging hour : 

Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World. This 
contains an admirably written account of the Huguenot 
colony on the St. John. 



36 

Fairbakks, The Spaniards in Florida. (Published 
by Columbus Drew, Jacksonville, Florida.) An excel- 
lent historical account of the Spanish colony. 

Spbague, History of the Florida War. This is a 
correct and vivid narrative of the struggle with the 
Seminoles. The book is now rarely met with in the 
trade. 

Gen. George A. McCall, Letters from the Frontiers, 
(Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 1868.) These letters 
are mostly frem Florida, and contain many interesting 
pictures of army life and natural scenery there. 

R. M. Bache, The Young Wrecker of the Florida 
Reef. (Claxton, Remsen &Haffelfinger, Philadelphia, 
1869.) This is a " book for boys," and is interesting for 
all ages. The author was engaged on the Coast Sur- 
vey, and describes with great power and accuracy the 
animal and vegetable life of the Southern coast. 

Life of Audubon. (Putnam & Son, 1869.) This con- 
tains a number of letters of the great ornithologist 
while in Florida. 

A detailed description of the earlier works on the 
peninsula can be found in a small work I published 
some years ago, entitled " The Floridian Peninsula^ Its 
Literary History^ Indian Tribes^ and Antiquities.'''' (For 
sale by the publishers of the present book.) 

071 the Antiquities of the Peninsula. Prof. Jeffries 
Wyman, of Harvard College, published, not long since, 
a very excellent article in the second volume of the 
American Naturalist. 

Every tourist should provide himself with a good 
State map of Florida. The best extant is that pre- 
pared and published by Columbus Drew, of Jackson- 



37 

ville, Florida, in covers, for sale by the publishers of 
this work. Two very complete partial maps have been 
issued by the U. S. government, the one from the bu- 
reau of the Secretary of "War, in 1856, entitled, "A 
Military Map of the Peninsula of Florida South of Tam- 
pa Bay," on a scale of 1 to 400,000, the other from the 
U. S. Coast Survey office in 1864, drawn by Mr. H. Lin- 
denkohlj embracing East Florida north of the 29th de- 
gree, on a scale of 10 miles to the inch. The latter 
should be procured by any one who wishes to depart 
from the usual routes of tourists. 

3. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF FLORIDA. 

1. Geological Formation. 

2. Soil and Crops. 

3. Climate and Health. 

4. Yegetable and Animal Life. 

1. Geological Formation. 

Florida is a peninsula extending abruptly from the 
mainland of the continent in a direction a little east of 
south. It is nearly 400 miles in length, and has an 
average width of 130 miles. Its formation is peculiar. 
Every other large peninsula in the world owes its ex- 
istence to a central mountain chain, which affords a 
stubborn resistance to the waves. Florida has no such 
elevation, and mainly a loose, low, sandy soil. Let us 
study this puzzle. 

The Apalachian (usually and incorrectly spelled Ap- 
palachian) plain, sloping from the mountains to the 
Gulf of Mexico, lies on a vast bed of tertiary, lime- 
stone and sand rock. About the thirtieth parallel of 



38 - 

north latitude this plain sinks to the sea level, except 
in middle Florida, where it still remains 200 feet and 
more in height. This elevation gradually decreases 
and reaches the water level below the 28th parallel, 
south of Tampa Bay. It forms a ridge or spine about 
sixty miles in width, composed of a porous limestone 
somewhat older than the miocene group of the tertiary 
rocks, a hard blueishlimestone, and a friable sand rock.* 
Around this spine the rest of the peninsula has been 
formed by two distinct agencies. 

Between the ridge and the Atlantic ocean is a tract 
of sandy soil, some forty miles in width, sloping very 
gently to the north. It is low and flat, and is drained 
by the St. John river. So little fall has this noble 
stream that 250 miles from its mouth it is only 12 miles 
distant from an inlet of the ocean, and only 3 feet 6 
inches above tide level, as was demonstrated by the 
State survey made to construct a canal from Lake Har- 
ney to Indian River. A section of the soil usually dis- 
closes a thin top layer of vegetable mould, then from 
3 to 6 feet of difterent colored sand, then a mixture of 
clay, shells, and sand for several feet further, when in 
many parts a curious conglomerate is reached, called 
coquina, formed of broken shells and small pebbles 
cemented together by carbonate of lime, no doubt of 
recent (post tertiary) formation. The coquina is never 
found south of Cape Canaveral, nor north of the mouth 
of the Matanzas river. 

* This '• Back-Bone Ridge," as it has been called, has a rounded 
and singularly syminetri<5al form when viewed in cross section. 
Where the Fernandina and Cedar Keys railroad crosses the penin- 
sula, the highest point, near Gainesville, is 180 feet in elevation, 
whence there is a gradual slope, east and west. 



39 

For the whole of this distance a glance at the map 
will show that the coast is lined by long, narrow inlets, 
separated from the ocean by still narrower strips of 
land. These inlets are the " lagoons." The heavy 
rains wash into them quantities of sediment, and this, 
with the loose sand blown by the winds from the outer 
shore, gradually fills up the lagoon, and changes it into 
a morass, and at last into a low sandy swamp, through 
which a sluggish stream winds to its remote outlet. 
Probably the St. John river was at one time along lagoon , 
and probably all the land between the ridge described 
and the eastern sea has been formed by this slow pro- 
cess. 

The southern portion of the peninsula is also very 
low, rarely being more than six feet above sea level, 
but 'its slope, instead of being northward, is generally 
westward. Much of the surface is muddy rather than 
sandy, and is characterized by two remarkable forms 
of vegetable life, the Everglades and the Big Cypress. 

The Everglades cover an area of about 4,000 square 
miles, and embrace more than one half of the State 
south of Lake Okee-chobee. They present to the eye 
a vast field of coarse saw-grass springing from a soil of 
quicksand and soft mud, from three to ten feet deep. 
During the whole year the water rests on this soil from 
one to four feet in depth, spreading out into lakes, or 
forming narrow channels. The substratum is a lime- 
stone, not tertiary, but modern and coralline. Here 
and there it rises above the mud, forming " keys" or 
islands of remarkable fertility, and on the east and 
south makes a continuous ridge along the ocean, one 



40 

to four miles wide, and from ten to fifteen feet high, 
which encloses the interior low basin like a vast cres- 
centic dam-breast. 

Lake Okee-chobee. 1,200 square miles in area, with 
an average depth of t.velve feet, is, in fact, only an ex- 
tension of the Everglades. 

South of the Caloosa-hatchie river, between the 
Everglades and the Gulf, extends the Big Cypress. 
This is a large swamp, fifty miles long and thirty-five 
miles broad. Here the saw-grass gives way to groves 
of cypress trees, with a rank and tangled undergrowth 
of vines. The soil is either bog or quicksand, generally 
covered one or two feet deep with stagnant water. 
The sun's rays rarely penetrate the dense foliage, and 
on the surface of the water floats a green si me, which, 
when disturbed, emits a sickening odor of decay. 
Crooked pools and sluggish streams traverse it in all 
directions, growing deeper and wider toward the Gulf 
shore, where they cut up the soil mto numberless seg- 
ments, called the Thousand Islands. 

The whole of this southern portion of the peninsula 
lies on a modern, coral formation. The crescent-shaped 
ridge which forms the eastern and southern boundary 
of the Everglades, commences north of Key Biscayne 
Bay, and sweeps southwest to Cape Sable. Erom the 
same starting point, another broken crescent of coral- 
line limestone, but many miles longer, extends to the Dry 
Tortugas, forming the Florida Keys. And beyond this 
again some five or six miles, making a third crescent, 
is the Elorida Eeef. Outside of the Keef, the bottom 
abruptly sinks to a depth of 800 or 900 fathoms. Be- 
tween the Reef and the Keys is the ship channel, about 



41 

6 fathoms in depth ; and between the Keys and the 
main land the water is very shallow, and covers broad 
flats of white calcareous mud. Between the coast-ridge 
and Lake Okee-chobee, the "Keys," which are scat- 
tered through the Everglades, are disposed in similar 
crescentic forms, some seven regular concentric arcs 
having been observed. They are all formed of the 
same character of coral rock as the present Keef and 
Keys, and undoubtedly owe their existence to the same 
agency. Each of these crescents was at one time a reef, 
until the industrious coral animals built another reef 
further out in the water, when the older line was broken 
up by the waves into small islands. Thus, for countless 
thousands of years, has this work of construction been 
going on around the extremity of the tertiary back bone 
ridge which at first projected but a short distance into 
the waters. 

What, it may be asked, has impressed this peculiar 
and unusual crescentic shape to the reefs ? This is ow- 
ing to the Gulf Stream. This ocean-river rushes east- 
ward through the Straits of Florida at the rate of five 
or six miles an hour, yet it does not wash the reef. By 
some obscure law of motion, an eddy counter-current 
is produced, moving westward^ close to the reef, with a 
velocity of one or two miles an hour. Off Key "West 
this secondary current is ten miles wide, with a rapidity 
of two miles per hour. Its waters are constantly 
whitened by the calcareous sands of the reef— the relics 
of the endless conflict between the waves and the un- 
tiring coral insects. , The slowly-built houses of the lat- 
ter are broken and tossed hither and thither by the bil- 
lows, until they are ground into powder, and scattered 



42 

through the waters. After every gale the sea, for miles 
on either side of the reef, is almost milk-white with the 
ruins of these coral homes. 

But nature is ever ready with son>e compensation. 
The impalpable dust taken up by the counter-current is 
carried westward, and gradually sinks to the bottom of 
the gulf, close to the northern border of the gulf stream. 
At length a i ank is formed, reaching to within 80 or 90 
feet of the surface. At this depth the coral insect can 
live, and straightway the bank is covered with a multi- 
tudinous colony who commence building their branch- 
ing structures. A similar process originated all the cres- 
cent-shaped lines of Keys which traverse the Everglades 
and Big Cypress. 

2. SOIL AND CHOPS. 

Much of the soil of Florida is not promising in ap- 
pearance. The Everglades and Cypress Swamps may 
be considered at present agriculturally worthless. 
The ridge of sand and decomposed limestone along the 
southern shore, from Cape Sable to Indian river, is 
capable, however, of profitable cultivation, and offers 
the best field in the United States for the introduction 
of tropical plants, especially coffee. Its area is esti- 
mated at about 7,000,000 acres. 

The northern portion of the Peninsula is composed 
of " scrubs" (dry sterile tracts covered with thickets of 
black-jack, oak, and spruce), pine lands and hammocks 
(not hummocks — the latter is a Istew England word with 
a different signification). The hammocks are rich river 
bottoms, densely timbered with live oak, magnolia, 
palmetto, and other trees. They cannot be surpassed 
for fertility, and often yield 70 to 80 bushels of corn to 



43 

the acre with very imperfect tillage. Of course, they 
are difficult to clear, and often require drainage. 

The pine lands, which occupy by far the greater por- 
tion of the State, make at first an unfavorable impression 
on the northern farmer. The sandy pine lands near the 
St. John, are of deep white siliceous sand, with little or 
no vegetable mould through it. The greater part of 
it will not yield, without fertilizing, more than 12 or 15 
bushels of corn to the acre. In the interior, on the 
central ridge, the soil is a siliceous alluvium on beds of 
argillaceous clay and marl. The limestone rocks crop 
out in many places, and could readily be employed as 
fertilizers, as could also the marl. Ked clay, suitable 
for making bricks, is found in the northen counties, and 
a number of brick yards are in operation. Over this 
soil a growth of hickory is interspersed with yellow 
pine, and much of the face of the country is rolling. 
By mixing the hammock soil with the sand, an admi- 
rable loam is formed, suited to raising vegetables and 
vines. 

Persons who visit Florida with a view to farming or 
gardening, should not expect to find it a land of exhu- 
berant fertility, that will yield immense crops with little 
labor. East Florida is as a whole not a fertile country 
in comparison with South Carolina or Illinois, and 
probably never will be highly cultivated. On the other 
hand, they must not be discouraged by the first impres- 
sions they form on seeing its soil. Labor can do won- 
ders there. The climate favors the growth of vegetables 
and some staples, but labor, hard work, is just as neces- 
sary as in Massachusetts. Middle and West Florida 
have much better lands. 



44 

The leading crops of the State are corn and cotton. 
Of the latter, the improved short staple varieties are 
preferred, the Ions: staple flourishing only in East 
Florida. Some experiments have been tried with Egyp- 
tian cotton, but on too small a scale to decide its value. 
The enemv of the cotton fields is the caterpillar which 
destroys the whole crop in a very short time. Il^or can 
anything be done to stop its ravages. In the vicinity 
of Tampa Bay and Indian River the sugar cane is suc- 
cessfully raised, quite as well as in Louisiana. In good 
seasons it is also a very remunerative crop in the north- 
ern counties, as it yields as much as fifteen barrels of 
first class syrup to the acre, besides the sugar. 

Tobacco, which before the war was raised in consid- 
erable quantities in Florida, has b en much neglected 
since. Good Cuba seed has been introduced, however, 
and some of the old attention is paid to it. The char- 
acter of soil and climate of certain portions of Florida, 
especially the southeastern portion, is not very unlike 
that of the famed Yuelta Abajo, and with good seed, 
and proper care in the cultivation and curing of the leaf, 
it might be grown of a very superior quality. 

The climate is too warm for wheat, but rye and oats 
yield full crops, though they are but little cultivated. — 
Sweet potatoes, yams, peas, and groundnuts are unfail- 
ing, and of the very best qualities. The vine yields 
abundantly, and it is stated on good authority that two 
thousand gallons of wine per acre have been obtained 
from vineyards of the Scuppernong grape in Leon county. 

Apples grow only to a limited extent, some being 
found in the northern counties. Peaches, pears, apri- 
cots, oranges, limes, lemons, etc., are well suited to the 



45 

soil and climate. The orange has two enemies, the in- 
sect called the coccus^ and the frost. The former seems 
disappearing of late j^ears, but the frosts have become 
more severe and more frequent, so that north of the 28th 
degree, the orange crop is not dependable. 

The tropical plants, such as coffee, indigo, sesal hemp, 
etc., can undoubtedly be cultivated with success on the 
southern and southeastern coast, but hitherto, no seri- 
ous attempt at their introduction has been made. For 
further particulars under this head, see a pamphlet of 151 
pages prepared by Hon. John S. Adams, and published 
by the State, in 1869, entitled, '"'• Florida, its Climate, 
its Soil, and Productions.^^ 

3. CLI3IATE AND HEALTH. 

In regard to climate, Florida is in some respects un- 
surpassed by any portion of the United States. The 
summers are not excessively hot, the average tempera- 
ture of the months of June, July, and August, being at 
Tallahassee 79 degrees, Fah. ; at St. Augustine, 80 de- 
grees ; Cedar Keys, 79 degrees ; Tampa, 80 degrees; 
Miami, 81 ; and Key West, 82 degrees. The winters 
are delightful, the temperature of the three winter 
months averaging as follows: Tallahassee, 57 degrees ; 
St. Augustine, 58 degrees ; Cedar Keys, 60 degrees ; 
Tampa, 61 degrees; Miami, 67 degrees, Key "West, 70 
degrees. 

The summer heats are debilitating, especially in the 
interior. On the coast they are tempered by the sea- 
breeze, which rises about 10 a. m. 'No part of the 
State is entirely free from frosts. In Jacksonville they 
occur about once a week during the month of January, 
while at Miami they only happen once in several years. 



46 

Now and then a severe frost occurs, which destroys the 
orange groves far to the south. One such in 1767 de- 
stroyed all the orange trees at Fernandina and St. 
Augustine ; another in 1835 cut them down as far 
south as JS'ew Smyrna ; in December, 1856, ice was 
noted on the Miami river; and in December, 1868, there 
was such an unprecedented cold snap that Lake Griffin, 
on the upper Oklawaha, bore ice one-and-a-half 
inches thick. The orange crop was destro3^ed as far 
up the St. John as Enterprise, and most of the trees 
ruined. On Indian river, however, the cold was not 
felt to a damaging extent. 

The nights in winter are cool, and in the interior ac- 
companied with heavy dews. 

In summer, the prevailmg winds are east and south- 
east, being portions of the great air currents of the 
trade winds. Thunder storms are frequent. In win- 
ter, variable winds from the north, northeast, and north- 
west, prevail. At times they rise to violent gales of 
several days duration, called northers. These are most 
frequent on the west coast. 

The seasons of Florida are tropical in character, one 
being the dry and the other the wet season. The annual 
rain-fall averages from fifty to sixty inches. Three- 
fourths of this fall between April and October. Some- 
times there is nearly as much rain in the month of June 
as during the six wmter months together. Two inches 
and a-half is a fair average each for the latter. The air is 
usually well charged with moisture, but owing to th^ 
equability of the temperature, this would hardly be 
suspected. Fogs are almost unknown, the sky is se- 
rene, the air clear, and no sensation of dampness is ex- 



47 

perienced. The hygrometer alone reminds us of how 
nearly the atmosphere is saturated Avith warm, watery 
vapor. 

In the concluding chapters of this work I shall dis- 
cuss at length the adaptation of the climate to invalids, 
and shall here speak of it chiefly as it affects residents. 

The prevailing diseases are of miasmatic origin. 
Dysentery of mild type, pneumonia and diarrhoea are oc- 
casional visitors, but the most common enemy to health 
is the swamp poison. Intermittent and remittent fevers 
are common along the fresh water streams. On the 
sea coast they are rare, and after the month of October 
they disappear, but in the summer aud early autumn 
they are very prevalent in some portions of the State. 
Thej'' are, however, neither more severe nor more fre- 
quent than in the lowlands of all the Gulf States, or in 
southern Indiana and Illinois. 

These complaints are characteristic of new settle- 
ments, usually disappearing after the land has been 
cleared a few years. They can be generally avoided 
by care in habits of life, and the moderate use of some 
bitter tonic. All who are exposed should be on their 
guard, avoiding excesses, over-work, getting chilled, 
the night dews, damp clothing, etc. 

One fall I ascended the Ocklawaha river in a "pole- 
barge " — a large scow i^ropelled by poles. At night we 
fastened the boat to a tree, and slept at some neighbor- 
ing house. The captain and several of the " darkies " 
had a diurnal shake, with great regularity, and I en- 
tered hardly a single house from Palatka to Ocala in 
which one or more of the family were not complaining 
of the same disease. I had no quinine with me, and in 



48 

default of it used as a preventive a strong tincture of 
the peel of the bitter-sweet orange. Either through 
its virtues or good luck, I escaped an attack, quite to 
the surprise of my companions. I repeat, however, 
that during the winter there is no danger from this 
source, and even during the sickly season an enlight- 
ened observance of the rules of health will generally 
protect the traveler. 

4. YEGETABLE AND ANIMAL LIFE. 

The traveler who, for the first time, visits a southern 
latitude, has his attention most strongly arrested by the 
new and strange forms of vegetable life. I shall men- 
tion some of those which give the scenery of Florida its 
most peculiar features. 

The most abundant is the saw palmetto, cTiamcerops 
Adansonii. This vigorous plant is found in all parts of 
the peninsula, flourishing equally well in the pine bar- 
ren and the hammock. It throws up its sharp-edged 
leaves some four or five feet in length, from a large 
round root, which is, in fact, a trunk, extending along 
the surface of the ground. The young shoots and inner 
pith of the root are edible, and were often eaten by the 
Indians. 

The cabbage palm, another species of ChavicBrops, is 
one of the most beautiful of trees. It raises its straight , 
graceful trunk to a height of 50, 60 and 100 feet, without 
a branch, and then suddenly bursts into a mass of dark 
green, pendant fronds. In the center of this mass, en- 
veloped in many folds, is found the tender shoot called 
the " cabbage." It tastes like a raw chestnut, and was 
highly prized by the Indians. This palm is not found 



49 

north of St. Augustine, aind is only seen in perfection 
about Enterprise, and further south. 

The live oak and cypress are the tenants of the low 
grounds. The former has a massive trunk, much es- 
teemed for ship timber, spreading branches, and small 
green leaves. It is a perennial, and is not found farther 
north than South Carolina. The cypress stands in 
groups. Its symmetrical shaft rises without branches 
to a considerable height,andthen spreads out numerous 
horizontal limbs, bearing a brown and scanty foliage. 
The base of the trunk is often enlarged and distorted 
mto strange shapes, while scattered through the swamps 
are abortive attempts at trees, a foot or two thick and 
five or six feet m height, ending in a round, smooth toj). 
These are called " cypress knees." 

Two parasitic plants abound in the forests, the mistle- 
toe and the Spanish moss, tillandsia usneoides. The 
former has bright green leaves and red berries. The 
latter attaches itself to the cypress and live oak, and 
hangs in long gray wreaths and ragged masses from 
every bough in the low lands. 

The southern shores and islands are covered with 
the mangrove, a species of the rliizopliora^ It is admi- 
rably adapted to shore building. The seed grows to a 
length of five or six inches before it leaves its calyx, 
when it resembles in form and color an Havana cigar. 
When it drops into the water it floats about until it 
strikes a beach, where it rapidly takes root and shoots 
out branches. Each branch sends dt)wn its own root, 
and soon the shore is covered with a dense growth, 
which in time rises to a height of twenty or thirty feet, 
and prevents the sand from any further shifting. 



50 

Two varieties of a plant called by the Seminoles 
Jcoonta, bread, grow luxuriantly in the south. The red 
koonta, the smilax china of botanists, is a thrifty, briary 
vine, with roots like a large potato. The white koonta, 
a species of zamia^ has large fern-like leaves and a root 
like a parsnip. Both were used by the ladians as food, 
and yield from 25 to 30 per cent, of starch. 

At some seasons, dense masses of vegetation form 
on the lakes and rivers and drift hither and thither with 
the wind, natural floating islands. They are composed 
chiefly of a water ^\diXii^t\\Q pistia spathulata, with the 
stalks and leaves of the water lily, nympliea nilumbo. 

The bitter-sweet orange grows wild in great quanti- 
ties along the streams. It is supposed to be an exotic 
which has run wild, as none of the species was found in 
the Kew World, and no mention is made of the orange 
in the early accounts of the peninsula, as undoubtedly 
would have been the case had it then flourished. The 
fruit has a taste not unlike the Seville orange, and is 
freely eaten by the inhabitants. 

The cork tree, the sesal hemp, and other tropical 
plants have been introduced, and no doubt could be 
successfully cultivated in the extreme south. The coa- 
coanut palm grows vigorously at Key West,' and on the 
adjacent mainland. 

The animal life of Florida indicates its proximity to 
the tropics. Alligators are now scarce in the lower St. 
John, but are found in great numbers in the interior. 
They are by no means dangerous. The largest I ever 
saw was nearly 15 feet in length. 

The manatee, or sea cow, an herbivorous cetacean, 
midway between fish and flesh, once abounded in Flori- 



51 

da. When Audubon visited the peniusula, his guide 
boasted of having killed " hundreds" of them, and their 
bones are often found as far north as the Suwannee 
river. The Manatee spring and Manatee river bear 
record in their names to their former abundance. Kow, 
I think, they are nearly extinct. A few still linger in 
the extreme south. Two were caught on the Indian 
river in the commencement of 1869, and exhibited in 
Jacksonville and Savannah. 

The gopher ^testudo polyphemus, is a large land turtle 
found in the pine woods, and is esteemed as an article 
of diet. The deer, panther, black bear, black and 
grey wolf are quite common. 

Beautiful perroquets, wild tm-keys, white and rose- 
colored curlew, the latter prized for their tinted wings, 
pelicans, cormorants, herons, fish-crows, and cranes 
are seen in great numbers. 

The moccason and rattle-snake are the only venomous 
serpents. The former is most feared, but I do not re- 
member to have heard of many deaths from the bite of 
either. Scorpions, centipedes and tarantulas abound, 
but are not very poisonous, and never fatally so. The 
mosquitoes are at times dreadfully annoying, and there 
is no escape from them. Sand-flies, ticks, and knats 
also mar the pleasures of camp life, but the true hunter 
rises superior to such inconveniences. 

The best river fish is the trout — not the speckled 
native of the northern streams, but of good flavor, and 
" game" when hooked. The mullet — a fish about a 
foot long — swarms on the coast in incredible numbers. 
The pompano is considered almost as good as the 
salmon. Catfish are large and coarse. 



52 

4. THE ST. JOHN RIVER, ST, AUQUSTINE, AND 
INDIAN RIVER. 

The St. John river is about 400 miles in length, and 
from two to three miles wide, as far up as Lake George. 
It is, in fact, rather an arm of the sea than a river, and 
probably is the remains of an ancient lagoon. Its cur- 
rent is about one mile an hour, and the slope of its bed 
so little that at such a distance from its mouth as at Lake 
Monroe, a careful survey showed that it was but three 
feet six inches above sea level. The tides are percept- 
ible as far as Lake George, and its water more or less 
brackish at least this far. This may be partly owing to 
several large salt springs which empty into it. Its waters 
are of a light coffee-color, frequently cover ed with a per- 
ceptible scum. Above Lake George they are pleasant 
to the taste, but do not easily quench the thirst, appa- 
rently owing to the salts of various kinds in solution. 

Contrary to all the other large streams in the United 
States, the St. John flows nearly due south until within 
fifteen miles of its mouth, when it turns abruptly to 
the east, entering the Atlantic at 30 degrees 24 seconds, 
north latitude. For this peculiarity of its course, the 
Chahtas named it Il-Ia-Jca, corrupted into Welaka by 
the whites. Mr. Buckingham Smith asked an intelli- 
gent native what the word meant. He answered 
slowly: "It hath its own way, is alone, and contrary 
t3 every other." 

The only important tributary it receives is the Ok- 
lawaha. They each drain a row of numerous ponds, 
lakes, and marshes, and are separated by the Thlau- 
hatke, or "White Hills, the highest hills in the peninsu. 
la, and an elevated sandy ridge, covered with scrub- 
oak, known as the " Eteniah scrub." 



53 

The St. John was discovered in 1562, by Jean Ribaut, 
leader of the Huguenot colony of Admiral Coligny. 
He named it the River May, having entered it in that 
month. In the Spanish chronicles it is referred to as 
the Rio de San Matteo (St. Matthew). When it was 
named San Juan, does not appear, but the English 
took this name and translated it into the present ap- 
pellation. 

In accordance with the best usage of our geographi- 
cal writers, I shall omit the possessive sign, and speak 
of it as the St. John river ; and in mentioning localities 
on the right or left bank, the reader is notified that 
while geographically these terms are used as if a per- 
son were descending the river, for the convenience of 
the traveler I use them as of one ascending it. 

The mouth of the St. John is hardly a mile wide, and 
is impeded by a shifting sand bar, having rarely more 
than seven feet of water at low tide. The entrance is 
by a southerly pass, which leaves the course of the 
stream concealed by the shore of Baton island, on the 
north. This island is settled by a number of river 
pilots with their families, hardy and worthy people. 
On the southern shore the tourist sees the old and new 
lighthouses, and a row of brilliantly white sand dunes 
extending inland a mile or more. 

Baton Island passed, an extensive salt marsh is seen 
to form the northern bank of the river ; through this 
numerous sluggish streams wind their way, forming 
part of the " inside passage" to Fernandina. Kear the 
entrance of this passage a number of symmetrical 
mounds, from 20 to 50 feet in height, strike the eye. 
These are known as "The Sisters," or more prosaically 



54 

as the " Oyster Banks," as, on examination, they prove 
to be composed ahnost exclusively of broken oyster 
shells, covered with a tangled low shrubbery. Ko 
doubt they are relics of the many glorious oyster feasts 
indulged in by the indigenes in times gone by. I regret 
that they were not visited by Prof. Jeffries Wyman, 
who has given us so excellent an account of the " Fresh- 
Water-Shell-Heaps of the St. John's River, East Flor- 
ida," (Salem, Mass., 1868). 

Having passed the bar, the river rapidly widens. 
About six miles from the entrance the channel runs 
close along the base of a hill or headland of moderate 
height, covered with pine, cedar, etc. This is ^St. 
JoJinh Bluffs and is unquestionably the site of Fort 
Caroline, the settlement of Coligny's band of Hugue- 
nots in 1562. 

A tragic interest surrounds this spot. Here, in 1564, 
Rene de Laudonniere established the colony of French 
Protestants, intending to reclaim a portion of this vast 
wilderness. His action was soon reported at the j ealous 
court of Spain. 

Phillip II. at once despatched Pedro Menendez de 
Aviles, an accomplished soldier and earnest Catholic, 
to root out the feeble colony. It was done only too 
well. In the excitement of a surprise, Sept. 19th, 
1565, the orders of Menendez to spare the women, the 
old men, and the children were disregarded by the furi- 
ous soldiery, and nearly everv one was massacred. Lau- 
donniere and a few others escaped by scrambling down 
the rough and thorn-covered eastern face of the bluft", 
and wading through the marshes to the mouth of the 
river, where they reached their ships. They bore the 



55 

distressing tidings to France. The ruler of that realm, 
the projector of the massacre of St. Bartholemew, and 
the son of Catharine de Medicis, was not the one to 
trouble himself about the death of a few Huguenots 
who had encroached on foreign soil. But the stain of 
unavenged blood did not remain on France. A private 
gentleman, Dominique de Gourgues, fitted out an expedi- 
tion in 1568. Suddenly appearing before Fort Caroline, 
then manned by Spanish troops, he attacked and routed 
the garrison and burned the structure. As it was re- 
ported that Menendez had inscribed on a tablet that the 
massacre of the Huguenots was not done " as to French- 
men but to heretics;" so De Gourgues returned the 
grim courtesy, and left an inscription that the dead men 
around had been slain " not as Spaniards, but as trai- 
tors, thieves and murderers." 

In 1856, some copper coins were found near here 
bearing the inscription : 

KAROLUS ET JOANNA RE. 

They were identified by Mr. Buckingham Smith as of 
the reign of Carlos I. (Charles Y.) and Donna Juanna, 
and therefore date from about 1550. 

More recently a coin of about the same period, and 
from the same spot, but with a different and not fully 
legible inscription was exhibited to the Numismatic 
and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia. 

During the late civil war the Bluff was fortified by a 
detachment of Confederate troops, and for some days 
held against the gunboats of the United States forces. 
At length they were out-flanked by a party of Union 
soldiers, who made their way in the rear by the margin 
of the swamp, and the work was surrendered. 



56 
A few miles bej-oad the bluff the boat stops at 

YELLOW BLUFF. 

It has a post oDice and ODe ."vmall boarding-house, 
.00 per week,) about 40 inhabitants, mostly en- 
gaged in fishing. Kear by is a small fort, built dur- 
ing the recent war, and ©n the opposite bank of the 
river, on a plantation called Xew Castle, are an Indian 
mound and the vestiges of an ancient, quadrilateral 
earthwork of Spanish origin. 

Yellow Bluff was first chosen by Col. I. D. Hart as 
the city which he proposed to build on the St. John, 
but as he found some marsh land near which he thought 
might prove disadvantageous to such a large city as he 
contemplated founding, he passed further up the stream 
and built his cabin on the spot now known as the 
*' Cow's Ford," where the King's Road in the old days 
crossed the rirer and connected St. Augustine with the 
northern settlements, twenty-five miles abov6 the bar. 
This spot, then occupied by a few straggling whites and 
halfbreeds, is now the site of the flourishing city of 

JACKSOKYILLE. 

Hotels, — *St. James, on the public square, with airy 
piazzas, S4.00 a da^-; *Taylor House, fronts the river; 
*Price House, close to the railroad depot ; St. John's 
House, in the center of the city; Howard House ; Cow- 
art House ; Union House ; Florida House ; ^Rochester 
House, on the bluff south of the town; from $2.00 to 
$3.00 a day. 

Boarding Houses. — Mrs. Freeland, Mrs. Hodgson, 
Mrs. Alderman opposite the Taylor House, and many 
others. 



57 

Neiopapers. The Florida Union, repub.; Mercury 
and Floridian ; Florida Land Register. 

Bookseller. — CoLUMBUS DREW, publisher of 5mjio?i '5 
Guide-Book of Florida andthe SoutJi. Mr. Drew makes 
a specialty of keeping works on Florida. 

ChurcTies of all the principal denominations. 

Jacksonville, so named after General Andrew Jack- 
son, has now a population of 7,000 souls, and is rapidly- 
increasing that number. It is destined to be the most 
important city in Florida, as it is already the largest. It 
is locate^ between two creeks which fall into the St. 
John about a mile and a quarter apart. These form 
the present corporation limits, but several suburbs or 
additions have been recently formed beyond these 
streams. Brookl3^n and Riverside are on the bank 
southwest of the town ; Scottsville, immediately east of 
the eastern creek, is the principal location of the large 
saw mills which constitute one of the most important 
industries of the city ; Wyoming is on the blutf one and 
a half miles northeast ; and finally La Yilla is a small 
suburb on an island to the west. 

Many of the residences of Jacksonville are sub- 
stantially built of brick manufactured from native clay, 
but wood is the prevailing material. Several hand- 
some residences are conspicuous from the river, and 
every season a number of elegant cottages are added 
to the town. It is a favorite residence for invalids 
during the winter months, on account of its superior 
accommodations and ease of access. Indeed, too many 
of them remain here who would be improved by a 
nearer approach to the extreme south. The sight of 
so many sick often afiects one unfavorably. 



58 

The streets of Jacksonville are sandy, and the vicin- 
ity only moderately fertile. The health of the city is 
good at all seasons, miasmatic disease not being com- 
mon. There was an epidemic of yellow fever in 1857, 
but it has never since returned. 

During the war Jacksonville suffered severely. It 
was first partially burned by the Confederates, then 
three separate times occupied by the Union troops, the 
third time catching fire in the assault. About half a. 
dozen blocks of houses were then burned, including the 
Catholic and Episcopal churches. Of course the result 
of these experiences was little short of desolation. 
Grass grew waist high in the streets, and the few cattle 
that remained found for themselves stalls in the deserted 
stores and houses. Now, however, one can hardly 
credit the fact that such was ever the case. 

Steamboats leave Jacksonville for Enterprise (206 
miles), about every other day. One line is owned by 
Capt. Brock, who for many years has run the steamer 
"Darlington" up and down the river. The accommo- 
dations on all the steamers are fair, and no one should 
omit to make the round trip, even if he does not tarry 
on the road. Fare to Enterprise, $9.00. 

About a mile above this city the river widens once 
more. The banks are usually 3 or 4 feet high, thickly 
set with live oak, pine and cypress. Here and there 
the pine barren cuts across the hammock to the river. 
In such places the banks are 8 or 10 feet high, and the 
tall yellow pine with an abundant undergrowth of pal- 
metto give some variety to the otherwise monotonous 
view. 15 miles from Jacksonville, on the left (east) 
hand is the small town of 



59 
MANDAKIX. 

Fost Office. ^lSTo hotel. Boarding can be had with 
Mr. Chas. F. Keed, near the landing. Mr. Foote, the 
postmaster, will give further information about the 
chance for accommodations in private families. A new 
School house and church. The name is said to have 
been derived from the Mandarin or China orange intro- 
duced here. This little place has about, a dozen houses 
and a back country three or four miles in extent. The 
location is pleasing and the soil good. Several flourish- 
ing orange groves can be seen from the river. One of 
them about six acres in extent is owned by Mrs. Har- 
riet Beecher Stowe, who has a pleasant country house 
here, and visits it every winter. It stands close to the 
river, on a bluff about 12 feet high. A little higher up 
the river the Marquis de Talleyrand has laid out hand- 
some grounds. 

This is one of the localities associated with the atro- 
icities of border warfare. In December, 1841, the Sem- 
inole Indians attacked and burnt the town and massa- 
cred the inhabitants almost to the last soul. " For six- 
teen hours," says Captain Sprague in his account of the 
occurrence, "the savages, naked and painted, danced 
around the corpses of the slain." 

Above Mandarin the river narrows and then again 
expands, the banks continuing of the same character. 
Ten miles above, on the right (west) bank is 

HIBEBNIA. 

*Hotel,hj Mrs. Fleming, one of the best on the river, 
accommodates about 35 persons, $2.50 per day, $15.00 
per week. This very pleasant spot is on an island, 



60 

about five miles long, immediately north of tLe en- 
trance of Black Creek. It is separated from the main- 
land by a body of water known as Doctor's Lake, 
which, toward its southern extremity, is lost in a broad 
marsh. The " river walk" near the boarding house is 
a delightful promenade about three-fourths of a mile 
long under the spreading branches of noble live oaks. 
The hotel is near the landing, which is on the east side 
of the island. Visitors can readily obtain boats, and 
the vicinity offers many attractive spots for short ex- 
cursions, picnics, and fishing parties. Rooms should 
be engaged by letter. 
Three miles above Hibernia is 

MAGNOLIA. 

This large building was erected by Dr. Benedict in 1851 
with special reference to the wants of invalids, and their 
treatment under medical supervision. During the war 
it was used for various purposes and was much injured, 
but it has now been thoroughly refitted by a company, 
and placed under the charge of Dr. Rogers, formerly of 
Worcester, Mass., a capable and judicious physician, 
who proposes to continue it as a sanitarium. The 
building can accomodate comfortably about 50 boarders. 
The position is agreeable, a majestic oak grove shadmg 
the grounds, while at a little distance the pine forest 
scatters its aromatic odors in the air. 

Divided from it by a small creek, but 2 miles above 
as the river runs, is 

GREEN COVE SPRING. 

Hotels. Green Cove House, by Mr. J. Ramington, 
and boarding houses by Captain Henderson, and Cap- 



61 

tain Glinskie, all said to be well kept ; fare about S15.00 
per week. This spring has been lon^ celebrated for its 
mineral properties. It is sulphurous, and has been 
found of value in chronic rheumatism, cutaneous dis- 
ease and dyspepsia. The temperature is 78 Pah. at 
all seasons. The basin varies in diameter from 35 to 40 
feet at different points. The water rushes up with force 
forming what is called the " boil." Recently a portion of 
the bottom of the spring gave way, and the orifice through 
which the water rises was covered. But the earth was 
cleared out, and the " boil " re-instated. Facilities for 
bathing are afforded, though not to that extent which 
were desirable. 
12 miles above green Cove on the left bank is 

PICOLATA. 

Boarding with Mr. T. F. Bridier. This is the station 
where passengers to St. Augustine land. It is much to 
be regretted that there is no hotel here, and only poor 
and insufficient accommodations in the house owned by 
the stage company. Usually but one line of stages runs 
to St. Augustine, and they are often densely crowded, 
and most uncomfortable. A second line was put on in 
Jan., 1869. The usual fare to St. Augustine is $3.00 ; 
distance 18 miles. By competition it has been reduced 
to $1.00. 

FROM PICOLATA TO ST. AUGUSTINE 

the road leads through an open pine country with an 
undergrowth of palmettoes. Here and there a clump 
of cypress, with a tangled mass of briars and vines 
around their trunks, diversifies the scene. The soil is 
miserably poor, and hardly a dozen houses are passed 



62 

in the whole distance. Deep white sand obstructs the 
stage, and not so rarely as one wishes the wheels 
strike a pine or palmetto root with a most unpleasant 
eifect upon the passengers, especially if they are inva- 
lids. After 3i hours of this torture, the stage is check- 
ed by the Sebastian river, over which a miserable ferry 
boat conveys the exhausted tourist who at length finds 
himself in St. Augustine. 

ST. AUGUSTINE. 

Hotels : Florida House (dear and poor,) Magnolia 
House, fine piazza (grounds recently fitted up.) About 
$4.00 per day, sliglit reduction by the month. 

Boarding Houses : Mrs. Abbot, Mrs. Fatio, Mrs. 
Gardner, Mrs. Brava, Miss Dummitt. Charges, $15.00 
to $20.00 per week. As a rule, the tables of the board- 
ing houses are better kept than those of the hotels. 
Families can rent houses by the month, and sometimes 
furnished rooms, and thus live much cheaper. Apply 
to B. E. Carr, J. L. Phillips, or John Long. 

Billiard Saloon, at Delot's Restaurant. 

Fast Office on the Plaza, mailtri-weekly. Telegraph 
office near the market house on the Plaza. 

Newspaper — St. Augustine ^xamner, weekly. Head- 
ng Room at the editor's office, 25 cts. a week. 

Drug Store — Dr. J. P. Mackay. 

Military Music — On the Plaza every other night. 

ChurcJies — Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Presbyterian, 
Methodist chapel opposite the Magnolia House, Col- 
ored Baptist. 

Bathing-House, on Bay Street, white flag for ladies, 
red flag for gentlemen, on alternate days. Season 
ticket $5.00. 



63 . 

Local Histories. — ^Fairbanks, The Spaniards in Flo- 
rida, (1868, the best, published by Columbus Drew» 
Jacksonville, Fla.) ; Sewall, Sketches of St. Augustine, 
1848, (illustrated) ; St. Augustine, Florida, by an Eng- 
lish visitor, (1869, by Mrs. Yelverton; inaccurate). 

St. Augustine (population 1,200 white, 600 black), the 
oldest settlement in the United States, was founded in 
1565, byPedroMenendez,a Spanish soldier, born in the 
city of Aviles. The site originally chosen was south 
of where the city now stands, but the subsequent year 
(1566) a fort was erected on the present spot. It re 
ceived its name because Menendez first saw the coast 
of Florida on St. Augustine's day. 

Little is known of its early history. In 1586 it was 
burned by Sir Francis Drake ; and in 1665, Captain 
Davis, an English buccaneer, sacked and plundered it 
without opposition, the inhabitants, numbering at that 
time a few hundred, probably fleeing to the fort. This 
building, which had formerly been of logs, was com- 
menced of stone about 1640. 

As it was found that the sea was making inroads upon 
the town, about the end of the seventeenth century, 
a sea-wall was commenced by the Spanish Governor, 
Don Diego de Quiroga y Losada, extending from the 
Fort to the houses, all of which, at that time, were 
south of the Plaza. The top of this first sea-wall can 
still be seen in places along Bay street, occupying 
nearly the middle of the street. 

Early in the last century, the English in Carolina, 
in alliance with the Creek (Muskoki) Indians com- 
menced a series of attacks on the Spanish settlements. 
In 1702, Governor Moore made a descent on St. Augus- 



64 

tine by land and sea, burnt a portion of the town, and 
destroyed all the plantations in the vicinity. The in- 
habitants once more fled to the castle, which, we are 
told, was surrounded by a very deep and broad moat. 
But the priests had not time to remove the church plate. 
This, and much other booty, fell into Gov. Moore's 
hands — all of which he kept for himself to the great 
disgust of his companions in arms. 

Again, in 1725, Col. Palmer, of Carolina, at the head 
of 300 whites and Indians attacked and ravaged the 
Spanish settlements, completely annihilating their field- 
husbandry, burning the country houses, and forcing the 
inhabitants of St. Augustine to flee as usual to the castle. 

In 1732, Governor Oglethorpe founded the colony of 
Georgia, on the Savannah river. Eight years after- 
wards he made his memorable attack on St. Augustine. 
At that date the city numbered 2,143 inhabitants, inclu- 
ding the garrison (the latter probably about one half 
the whole number.) The city was intrenched, with sa- 
lient angles and redoubts, the space enclosed being 
about half a mile long and quarter of a mile wide. The 
castle mounted 50 pieces of brass cannon. Its walls 
were of stone, casemated, with four bastions. The 
moat was 40 feet wide, and twelve feet deep. Governor 
Oglethorpe, therefore, undertook a difficult task when 
he set out in midsummer to besiege a place of this 
strength. He planted his principal batteries on Ani- 
s!;asia island, wher3 their remains are still distinctly tik- 
ceable, and bombarded castle and city with considera- 
ble vigor for 20 days. He discovered, however, to iiis 
mortification, that his shot produced hardly any more 
effect on the coquina rock of which the walls yere 



65 

built, than on so much sand. After prolongmg the 
siege 38 days, (June 13 — July 20, 1740,) he withdrew. 

The exterior of the works was finally completed by 
Don Alonzo Fernando Here da, in 1756, since which 
time no alterations of importance have been made. 

St. Augustine, always the capital of the province 
during the Spanish supremacy, changed hands with the 
whole peninsula in 1763, 1781, and 1821. It had a 
temporary prosperity during the first Seminole war, 
when it was used as a military and naval station. In 
1862 the naval force of the United States took posses- 
sion of it, without resistance, and a garrison of Kew 
Hampshire volunteers was stationed there. 

A large percentage of the natives show traces of 
Spanish blood. They are usually embraced under the 
name " Minorcans." 

In 1767 a speculative Englishman, Dr. Turnbull, 
brought over a colony of about 1200 Greeks, Italians, 
Corsicansand Minorcans, and settled near N'ew Smyrna. 
After a few years, wearied with his tyranny, most of 
those Avho survived, — not more in all than 600, — re- 
moved to St. Augustine. They were a quiet, some- 
what industrious, and ignorant people, and many of their 
descendants much mixed in blood still live in St. Au- 
gustine. Their language is fast dying out. The young 
people speak only English. The following verse from 
the FromajardiSy or Easter Song, was written down in 
1843. The italic e is the neutral vowel. 
" Sant Gabiel 

Qui portaba la ambasciado 
Dee nostro rey del eel, 
Estaran vos prenada 
Ya omitiada 



66 

Tu vais aqui surventa 
Fia del Dieu contenta 
Para fe lo que el vol 
Disciar«m lu dol 
Cantargm aub 'alagria 
Y n'arem a da 
Las pascuas a Maria, 
O Maria." 
I have no doubt but that this is somewhat incorrect, 
as I am informed that the ordinary language of the old 
natives is comparatively pure Spanish. 

St. Augustine is built on a small Peninsula, between 
the St. Sebastian Kiver, itself an arm of the sea, and 
the Bay. Its plan is that of an oblong parallelogram, 
traversed longitudinally by two principal streets, which 
are intersected at right angles by cross streets. The 
Isthmus connecting the Peninsula to the main is on 
the north, and is strengthened by a stone causeway. 
The ruins of a suburb, called the Korth City, are visi- 
ble near it. Most of the streets are narrow, without 
sidewalks, and shaded by projecting balconies. 
' On the east is the harbor, a sheet of water about 
eight fathoms in depth, known as the Matanzas river. 
It is separated from the ocean by Anastasia, or Fish 
Island, a narrow tract of land about fourteen miles 
long. The inlet is variable in depth, but rarely aver- 
ages over five feet. 

The principal buildings are of Coquina rock. This is 
a concretion of fragments of shells, of recent forma- 
tion. It extends along the east coast for about a 
hundred and fifty miles, in some places rising above the 
surface level, at others covered with several feet of 
sand. In one spot, near St. Augustine, it rests upon a 



67 

peat bog. The quarries are on Anastasia Island, and 
are worth visiting. 

'Near the center of the town is the *Plaza, or square. 
In its midst is an unpretending monument, square at 
the base, and eighteen feet high, on which is inscribed : 

Plaza de la Constitucion. 

This was erected in 1812, to commemorate the short- 
lived constitutional form of government then instituted 
in Spain. 

The building on the west side of the square was the 
residence of the Spanish Governors. It has been re- 
built and much altered since the purchase of the terri- 
tory, and is now used for the United States Court. On 
the opposite side, between the Square and the water, 
is the Market House. 

The building on the north side is the Eoman Catho- 
lic Church. Its quaint belfry has four bells which ring 
forth the Angelus thrice daily. One of these has the 
following inscription : 

Sancfe Joseph, 

Ora pro Nobis. 

A. D., 1682. 

This church was commenced in 1793, and doubtless 
this bell was brought from the previous church, which 
was on St. George street. In the interior, the ceiling is 
painted, the floor of concrete, and there are a few pic- 
tures, none of note. Many of its attendants are descen- 
dants of Spanish and Minorcan families. 

Opposite the Koman Catholic, is the Episcopal church, 
consecrated in 1833. 

The oldest building in the city is supposed to be that 
at the corner of Green Lane and Bay street. A cen- 



68 

tury ago it was the residence of the English attorney 
general, and was probably built about 1750. It will be 
observed that the coquinarock does not wear very well. 

At the north end of the town, where the causeway 
(of modern construction) connects with the main land, 
is the *City Gate, flanked by two square pillars, with 
Moorish tops. On either side a dry ditch, and the re- 
mains of a wall, mark the fortified limits of the city. 

At the southern extremity of the peninsula are the 
Barracks, built on the foundations of the ancient Fran- 
ciscan convent. From their top a fine view of the town 
can be obtained. In the rear of the main building is a 
Cemetery where the victims of " Dade's Massacre," du- 
nngthe 1st Seminole war, were buried, and other mem- 
bers of the U. S. forces. 

Still further south are the United States Arsenal 
and the remains of an ancient breastwork. 

The whole east front of the town for more than a 
mile is occupied by the * sea wall. It was built by the 
United States (1837 — 1843) to prevent the encroach- 
ment of the waves. The material is coquina stone 
topped by granite. It is wide enough for two persons 
to walk abreast upon it, and it is a favorite evening 
promenade. It encloses two handsome basins, with 
steps leading to the water. 

Fort Marion, or, as it was formerly called, the castle 
of San Marco, occupies a commanding position on the 
north of the city. It is considered a fine specimen of 
military architecture, having been constructed on the 
principles laid down by the famous engineer Yauban. 
No fees are required for visitors. The walls are 21 
feet high, with bastions at each corner, the whole 



69 

structure being in the form of a trapezuim, and enclos- 
ing an area about sixty yds. square. The main entrance 
is by a drawbridge. Over this is sculptured on a block 
of stone the Spanish coat of arms, surmounted by the 
globe and cross, with aMaltese cross and lamb beneath. 
Immediately under the arms is this inscription : 

Reynando en Espana el Senr 

Don Fernando Sexto y siendo 

Govor. y Capn. de esa. Cd. San. Augn. de 

La Florida y sus Prova. el Mariscal 

de camp)os Don Alonzo Ferndo. Hereda 

Asi concluio este Castillo el an 

OD. 1756. Dirigiendo las ohrasel 

Cap Ingnro. Dn. Pedro de Brozas 

y Gar ay. 

" Don Ferdinand YI. being king of Spain, the field 
marshal, Don Alonzo Fernando Hereda, gorernor and 
captain of this city of San Augustin de la Florida and 
its provinces, finished this castle in the year 1756, the 
captain of engineers Don Pedro de Brozas y Garay 
superintending the work." 

From the space in the interior, doors lead to the case- 
mates. Opposite the entrance, in the northern case- 
mate, is the apartment which was formerly used as a 
chapel. The altar stone is still preserved. In another 
apartment, the small window is pointed out through 
which Coacoochee, a distinguished Seminole chieftain, 
made his escape in the first Seminole war. Under the 
north east bastion there are subterranean cells, pro- 
bably used for confining prisoners, in one of which a 
human skeleton is said to have been found. The 
curtain on the east side of the fort, still shows the 
marks of Oglethorpe's cannon balls. 



70 

The vicinity of St. Augustine is uninteresting. A 
pleasant drive can be taken through the town and along 
the east bank of the Sebastian river. A sail along Ma- 
tanzas river has some attractions. Several good sail 
boats can be hired, some accommodating twenty or 
twenty-five persons, price $5.00 a day. A few miles 
south of the city an elevated spot marks the remains of 
General Moultrie's (of revolutionary fame) residence. 
At the southern extremity of Anastasia island the ruins 
of a Spanish look-out are visible. Rock island, on the 
north shore of the inlet near this point, has a remarka- 
ble Indian mound. 

Curlews and snipes afford some good sport along the 
strand, and in the winter, a brace or two of ducks can 
always be bagged on Anastasia island, but their flavor 
is not attractive. 

The nearest orange grove is that of Dr. Anderson, on 
the west side of the town. In going thither, the path 
should be chosen leading through the pleasant orange 
walk on the grounds of Mr. Buckingham Smith. 

The chief local industry at St. Augustine is the *pal- 
metto work. Hats, baskets, and boxes are very taste- 
fully plaited from the sun-dried leaves of the low vari- 
ety of that plant. Specimens of this handwork make 
pleasant mementoes of a visit to this ancient city. 

I now return to Picolata on the St. John. About a 
mile north of the landing, on the bank of the river, lived 
Col. John Lee Williams, the author of " The Natural 
and Civil History of Florida, " and " Yiew of West 
Florida," and in many ways conspicuous in the early 
history of the State. He died in 1857, and was buried 
in his own garden. I had the melancholy satisfaction 



71 

of visiting his grave the day after his burial, having 
reached Picolata without learning his death. I was told 
that the river here had materially altered its course 
within the memory of those now living. I am certain- 
ly unable to account in any other way for the total dis- 
appearance of the Spanish fort which, a century ago, 
existed here. The traveller Bartram describes It as 
built of coquina stone brought from Anastasia island. 
The main work, a square tower, thirty feet high, with bat- 
tlements allowing two guns on each side, was surroun- 
ded by a high wall, pierced with loop-holes and a deep 
exterior ditch. Even at that time he speaks of it as 
" very ancient. " 

On the opposite bank of the river was the fort of St. 
Francis de Poppa. Its earthworks are still visible, 
about one mile north of the landing. From St. Francis 
de Poppa the old Spanish road led across the province 
to St. Marks on the Gulf. Two small Sulphur Springs 
are found a short distance from the Picolata landing. 

Fifteen miles above Picolata the steamer stops on the 
right (west) bank at 

PALATKA. 

Hotels. — Patnam House, St. John's House, charges, 
$3.50 per day. The Palatka hotels are tolerable, but 
not so good as those of Jacksonville. Several boarding 
houses. A large hotel is projected. 

This was originally a military post in the Indian war 
of 1836— '40. The town is built on a sand bluff ten to 
fifteen feet above the river, a few inches of shells form- 
ing the surface soil. There are 800 or 1,000 inhabitants, 
principally engaged in orange culture and lumbering. 



72 

Several beautiful orange groves are in the vicinity, and 
constitute the only attraction of the place. The streets 
are sandy, and walking is difficult. Steamboats run 
from here direct to Charleston and Savannah, and also 
to the lakes of Marion and Alachua counties and up 
the Oklawaha river to Lake Griffin. A niail stage 
runs to Tampa. 

Above Palatka the river narrows, and the banks be- 
come as a rule lower and more swampy. At a point 
twelve miles above, on the left (east) bank, Buffalo bluff 
meets the river, a ridge of loose sandrock surmounted by 
a stratum of shells from six to ten feet in thickness. Five 
miles beyond, on the same side, is Horse Landing, 
where a shell and sand mound rises abruptly about eight 
feet from the water. This has been carefully examined 
by Prof. Jeffries Wyman, and pronounced to have been 
built by the ancient possessors of the land. About 
eighteen miles above Palatka, on the east bank, is the 
small town of 

WELAKA. 

Large boarding houses were here before the war 
but were destroj^ed. A capacious hotel is in process 
of erection. Three large sulphur springs are in the 
immediate vicinity, which could doubtless be applied 
to sanitary purposes. The soil is good, and well 
adapted to oranges. Eight miles east of Welaka is 
*Dunn's Lake, a beautiful sheet of water twelve miles 
long and three wide, abundantly stocked with fish. Its 
shores abound in game, and many rich plantations are 
on and near it. The soil is unsurpassed by any in 
Florida, and has always borne a high reputation. 



73 

Opposite Welaka, the Oklawaha empties into the 
St. John. The latter river at this point is about 500 
yards wide. Half a mile above, it expands to a width 
of three miles. This is called Little Lake George. Forfc 
Gates landing is at its southern extremity. Twelve 
miles above Welaka is Lake George proper, a sheet of 
water about eighteen miles in length, and ten in width. 
At its southern end a large and fertile island (about 
1900 acres), shuts off the view. It iscalledRembrandt's, 
or Drayton's Island. According to Bartram, there should 
be remarkable monuments of the aborigines, mounds, 
earthworks, and artificial lakes, on this island. Th^ 
channel lies to its east, and is quite narrow. At the 
extremity of this entrance there is a landing on the 
eastern shore, known as Sam's landing, or Lake George 
landing. A post office was located here. 

Several remarkable mineral springs are around this 
lake, especially on the western shore. It is an unsafe 
sea for boats, being exposed to sudden and violent 
winds. 

A mile or two from the western shore, the ground 
rises into high sand-hills, covered with a dense growth 
of spruce-pine and blackjack oak. This is the " Eten- 
iah scrub," which divides the St. John from the Okla- 
waha, and extends for many miles southwardly. It is a 
dry and hopeless barren. Sixty-five miles above Pa- 
latka, and four miles above the southern entrance of Lake 
George, on the left (east) bank of the river, is the old 
settlement of 

VOLUSIA. 
Good boarding-house by Dr. Langren — price mod- 
erate. Little is now seen from the river but ,a few 



74 

ruinous houses and the marks of a once extended 
cultivation in overgrown " old fields," but the place has 
a history worth recording. 

Soon after the cession of the county to the English 
crown in 1763, Mr. Denison Rolles, a gentleman of 
wealth, actuated, it would appear, by a spirit of philan- 
thropy, proposed to transport large numbers of the un- 
fortunate women of the London street to this new 
country, and there give them a chancesto lead a better 
life. With this object he obtained a grant of 40,000 
acres, and located it in this portion of Florida. The 
manor was called Charlottia, from the queen. Several 
hundred acres were cleared, a large mansion house 
erected, a handsome avenue laid out, which was to 
reach to St. Augustine, and colonists to the number of 
thrae hundred brought across. But, as so often hap- 
pens, unexpected obstacles arose. Supplies failed to 
come in time, fevers carried off many, the proprietor 
was accused of parsimony, and finally the settlement 
broke up, and those who survived went to Carolina and 
Georgia. 

At this point the river is quite narrow, and both 
banks are occupied by fresh-water shell-blufis, of artifi- 
cial origin. On that opposite Yolusia stands Fort 
Butler^ a place of some note in the Indian wars. Four 
miles above Yolusia, is Dexter's Lake, (ten miles long.) 
It is a famous resort for wild fowls in the fall and win- 
ter. It is surrounded by extensive marshes, cypress 
groves, and hammocks. 
A few miles above Lake Dexter the steamer stops at the 
small place now called Hawkinsville, but which for- 
merly bore the much more euphonious name of the 



75 

b^ave Seminole warrior, Osceola, (corruption of asse, 
heJiolar, sun rising). On the left bank, six miles above, 
is the remarkable 

ELUE SPRING. 

This is a landing, with post office, but has no ho- 
tel. One is (of course) in contemplation. The *spring 
is a large and beautiful fountain of crystal clear 
water. It forms a basin one-fourth of a mile long, 
twenty-five to thirty yards wide, and ten to twenty feet 
deep. The water is slightly sulphurous and thermal, 
the temperature reaching, at times, 75 degrees Fahr. 
This spot was called by the English, Berrisford, and 
was the most southern settlement made by them while 
in possession of the country. 

Hunting and fishing in this vicinity are remarkably 
fine. The back country is fertile, and some magnificent 
orange groves are under cultivation. 

The river now narrows to a width of fifty or sixty yds. 
Meadows of tall grass and maiden-cane, interspersed 
with clumps of lofty and graceful palms diversify the 
scene. Through these the stream winds its tortuous 
channel for thirty miles. At length the steamboat 
reaches its destination at 

ENTERPRISE, 

On Lake Monroe. *Brock House, kept by Mr. J, 
Brock, the proprietor of the line of steamers — $3.50 
per day. Several boarding-houses in the pine woods 
near. *Watson's. 

Several high shell mounds rise on the east shore of 
the lake, on one of which the hotel stands. Half a 



.76 

mile south of it is a large sulphur spring of unusual 
strength, with a hasin twenty-live yards in diameter. 
About 150 yards beyond it is a second sulphur spring- 
of less extent, and near by, also, a source of saline wa 
ters. (As yet no provisions are made for the applica- 
tion of their waters to medicinal purposes). 

Beyond the springs, a hill of sand and shells rises some 
thirty or forty feet, surmounted by an old frame build- 
ing. A luxuriant sweet orange grove extends along 
the shore, bearing the finest fruit I ever tasted in Flor' 
ida. 

The medicinal waters, the rich fruit, the charming 
lake, the near pine woods, and the attractive hunting 
and fishing at this spot, render it one of the most eligi- 
ble for a large sanitary establishment. But its position 
should not be directly on the beach, where the dazzling 
sand tries the eyes, and the evening dampness is pain- 
fully felt. 

Across Lake Monroe, is Fort Mellon, long used as 
a Government store-house, and the terminus of one of 
the military roads which connect with the interior of 
the country. 

Fragments of bog iron ore, and oolitic limestone, are 
picked up on the shore. 

A small steamboat runs about once a week from En- 
terprise to Lake Harney (thirty miles). The channel is 
narrow and crooked, running through broad, grassy 
savannahs and hammocks. The first bluff above Lake 
Monroe is called Leneer's. It is on the left bank. 

Occasional trips are made to Salt Lake, thirty miles 
above Lake Harney. Its waters are brackish, rather, 
I think, from its contiguity to the sea, than from any salt 



77 

springs. It is only seven miles from Indian river lagoon. 
Probably this is the only example in the world of a 
large river, at a distance of nearly 300 miles from its 
mouth, flowing within seven miles of the ocean into which 
it empties. When the water is high, small steamers and 
row-boats have passed beyond Salt Lake, sixty miles 
to Lake Washington. 'No settlements are on the river, 
however, higher up than Lake Harney. 

The source of the St. John is unknown. Its head 
waters probably lose themselves in vast marshes, 
from which flow sluggish streams northward to it, 
southward into Lake Okeechobee, and westward into 
the Kissimnee river. The determination of this geo- 
graphical point would be interesting, though perhaps 
of no great practical value. Yet, one cannot help feeling 
astonished that the sources of this river ,on which the first 
colony north of Mexico was founded, which traverses 
the oldest settled State of our Union, and which has been 
alternately possessed by three powerful nations, are 
more completely unknown and unexplored than those 
of the Nile or the Kiger. 

NEW SMYENA. 

This small settlement of half a dozen houses, is on 
Musquito lagoon, or Halifax river. It is reached by a 
rather rough-traveling weekly stage from Enterprise, 
for the immoderate sum of $8.00 a head. Board can 
be obtained of Mrs. Sheldon. New Symrna was laid 
out by Dr. Turnbull, during the English occupancy 
of Florida, and hither he brought his colony of 
Greeks, Minorcans, and Italians, as I have previously 
related. The marks of their faithful industry are still 



discernible. Turtle Mound, on the west bank of the 
Lagoon, near the town, is one of the most remarkable 
shell-mounds, or '' Kitchen-middens" in Florida. I have 
described it in my " Notes on the Floridian Peninsula,^'' 
page 178. There are a number of other equally curi- 
ous remains of a similar character in the vicinity. 

A hundred years ago nearly the whole of the blufif 
along the river, about half a mile wide, and nearly forty 
in length, was one vast orange grove. 

A mail boat leaves here for India river ever}- second 
week. 

INDIAN mVEE. 

Persons wishing to visit Indian river for camp hunt- 
ing, should hire an open boat, guide, and tent, (if the 
latter is deemed necessary), at Jacksonville, and bring 
them to Enterprise on the steamer. From that point 
they can row to Lake Harnej^ in two days, where the 
boat and tent can be carried across to Sand Point, on 
Indian river, on an ox team. Col. H. F. Titus has a 
store and dwelling at Sand Point, and accommodates 
t ourists either with his team or his table. The distance 
from the Point to Enterprise is forty miles ; to Lake 
Harney twenty-two miles, and to Salt Lake seven miles. 
A hack sometimes runs to Lake Harney during the win- 
ter season (fare $4.00), which delivers the mail at the 
Point. 

Indian river is properly a lagoon, or arm of the sea. 
Its waters contain about two-thirds as much salt as 
those of the ocean. In width it varies from one to four 
miles. Its western shore is marshy, with hammocks. ' 
About half a mile from the water runs a ridge, averag- 



79 

inghalfa mile across, covered with pines, oak, and 
palmettos. At places this ridge approaches to the wa- 
ter's edge, and offers first-class camping grounds. It 
varies in height, one point having been determined at 
fifty-two feet above tide level by the United States coast 
survey. That portion known as the Indian Garden, is 
about forty feet high, and was formerly thoroughly culti- 
vated by the natives and the Spaniards. All the ridge 
could readily be made extremely productive. The 
or anges of Indian river are equal to the best brought 
from Havana. A single orchard is said to return to 
its owner not less than S20,000 a year. 

Here again the difficultyof access meets one. The 
Fort Pierce channel, the deepest of the outlets of Indi- 
an river, has but six or seven feet of water at high tide, 
and it is so filled with sand and oyster shells that naviga- 
tion is difficult for vessels drawing over three feet. 

SANTA LUCIE, 

One hundred miles below Sand Point, is near the 
outlet. The intervening shore is very thinly scattered 
with settlers, but abounds in unequalled hunting and 
fishing. Santa Lucie is the county seat of Brevard 
county. It boasts a post office, store, and two or three 
houses. Mr. Frank Smith is postmaster, and cheerfully 
gives information or furnishes accommodation to the 
few tourists who wander thus far from civilized life. 

SANTA LUCIE RIYER 

Commences twenty miles further south. It, too, is a salt 
water lagoon. Formerly a water connection existed 
between this and Indian river, but now it is closed. 



80 

Santa Lucie river is principally famous for the num- 
bers, size, and flavor of its turtles. Fort Capron 
is on its west side. At this point there is a post office, 
kept by Captain James Payne, who will give any infor- 
mation wished for about the locality. 

The mail along this coast is carried from St. Augutine 
to Jupiter Inlet in boats, and thence ninety miles along 
the beach to Miami on Key Biscayne Bay by a man on. 
foot. For the whole of this latter distance there ig but 
one house, and no fresh water is to be had for a horse. 
The messenger is allowed four days for his journey. 
From Miami, which I shall speak of in a subsequent 
route, the letters are carried to Key West by schooner. 



81 

6.-JACKSO]SrVILLE TO TALLAHASEE, QUINCY 
AND ST. MARKS. 

(Tallahassee, and Pensacola & Georgia, and Florida, 
Atlanta & Gulf Central railways. Time 14 hours, one 
train daily.) 

The train leaves Jacksonville following the old mili- 
tary road, and soon enters open pine woods. The first 
station is White House (eleven miles). The next (eight 
miles) is Baldicin, (Florida House, M. Colding Pro- 
prietor). Here the Florida railway connects for Fer- 
nandina. Cedar Keys, Gainesville, and other points in 
East Florida. 

Beyond Baldwin the train passes over a swampy 
country intersected by numerous creeks flowing north- 
ward into the St. Mary's river, which near here 
makes its South Prong far to the south. Sanderson, 
(eighteen miles) is an insignificant station. Olustee 
(ten miles) is a rising village in the midst of a wide 
level tract, (no hotel; board at private houses SI .50 to 
$2.00 a day.) Ocean Pond, half a mile from the road 
(right hand side), is a handsome sheet of water, nearly 
circular, about four miles in diameter. It is deej), and 
offers excellent fishing. 

LAKE CITY 



(twelve miles; two tolerable hotels, $3.00 per day, $15. 
per week; newspaper. Lake City Press '^ telegraph of- 
fice) is a promising place of several hundred inhabitants. 
Three miles south of the city is Alligator Lake, a body 



82 

of water without any visible outlet. In the wet season 
it is three or four miles across, but in winter it retires 
into a deep sink hole, and the former bottom is trans- 
formed into a grassy meadow. 

Welbohn 

Is the next stopping place (twelve miles. The 
Grriffin House, and several boarding houses ; $1.50 per 
day, $6.00 per week). It is a prosperous village of 
150 inhabitants. The water is good, and the neighbor- 
hood healthy. Its height above tide water is 200 feet. 

Stages leave Welborn daily for the * White SulpTiur 
Springs, on the Suwannee river, eight miles north of 
the station (fare $2.00). These springs are a favorite 
resort for persons suftering from rheumatism and skin 
diseases. They have been estimated to discharge about 
three hundred hogsheads a minute. The =*hotel, ($3.00 
per day, $12.00 per week, $40.00 per month,) accommo- 
dating seventy-five guests, stands within a few yards of 
the Suwannee river, there a pretty stream about fifty 
yards wide. There is also a private boarding house 
near by. Dr. A. W. Knight, of Maine, resides at the 
hotel, and will be found an intelligent physician. There 
is good fishing in the river, and as the county is but 
sparsely settled, small game is abundant. Horses can 
be had for $2.00. The basin of the spring is ten feet 
deep, and 30 feet in diameter ; the stream runs about 
a hundred yards and then empties into the river. 

Leaving "Welborn, the tram passes Houston, (five 
miles), and reaches Live Oak (six miles.) Here the morn- 
ing train stops for dinner. A good table is set by Mr. 



83 

Conner, who keeps the hotel ($3 per day, $12.50 per 
weeky-SSO.OO per month. Boardmg, Mrs. M. A. Mc- 
Cleran, $25.00 per month, Mrs. Goodbread, $1.00 per 
day, $20.00 per month ; IS'ewspaper, Live OaJc Adver- 
tizer ; Churches, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist.) 
At this point a connecting railway diverges north to 
Lawton, Ga., on the main line of the Atlantic and 
Gulf R. R. Live Oak to Savannah, $9.00. Live Oak 
has at present about 250 inhabitants, and is a growing 
place. The country in the vicinity is the usual lime- 
stone soil of Middle Florida, covered with pine. Pea- 
ches flourish very well, and the soilis reasonably produc- 
tive. 

The Lower Spring ^ on the banks of the Suwannee 
river, eight miles north of Live Oak, is reached by 
trains twice daily on the road to Lawton. Its waters 
are sulphurous, and it is a favorite resort for certain 
classes of invalids. The accommodations are passable. 

Beyond Live Oak, is UUaville, (thirteen miles, for- 
merly Called Columbus) , near the Suwannee. This river 
is comparatively narrow, and divides at this point into 
its east and west branches. 

The next station (fifteen miles) is Madison , the count j 
seat of Madison county (Madisoa hotel). The village 
is half a mile from the depot, located on a plain border- 
ing on a small lake. 

Beyond this are Goodman station, (fourteen miles), 
Aucilla, (seven miles), and the Junction (seven miles). 
At the latter a railway four miles in length diverges to 

MONTICELLO, 

The county seat of Jefferson county. 
Hotels. — Monticello Lous3, kept by Mrs. Maclden, ac- 



84 

commodates about thirty guests, S2.00 a day, $30.00 to 
$40.00 a month ; Godfrey House. The village has a 
population of about 700. It is pleasantly located and 
regularly laid out, the court house occupying a square 
in the center of the town. There are four churches, 
Episcopal, Presbytej'ian, Methodist and Baptist. There 
is an academy of nearly 150 pupils, part of the support 
of the institution being drawn from the Southern Ed- 
ucational Fund, provided by the banker, Mr. Peabody. 
A flourishing colored school is also in the vicinity. 
Lake Mickasukie,an extensive body of fresh water, is 
about three miles distant. 

The climate of this part of Florida is dry and equable, 
and the soil the very best upland pine. Many invalids 
would find it a very pleasant and beneficial change from 
the sea coast or the river side, and immigrants would 
do well to visit it. Game and fish are abundant, and the 
sportsman need never be at a loss for occupation. 

Leaving the Junction, the train stops SLtLloyd^s (nine- 
miles), Chavies, (six miles), and finally at 

TALLAHASSEE. 

Hotels. — City Hotel, Hagner house, about $3.00 a day. 

Newspapers. — The Floridian and Journal^ Democrat, 
an old established and ably conducted paper ; the Tala- 
hassee Sentinel, republican, likewise well edited. 

Churches of most denominations. 

The capital of Florida is a city of about 3000 inhabi- 
tants, situated on a commanding eminence in the midst 
of a rolling and productive country. The name is pro- 
bably a compound of the Greek talofaTi, town, and has- 
see, sun. The site was cboien in 1823 by three commis- 



sioners, of whom Colonel John Lee Williams, the 
subsequent historian of Florida, was one. In the follow- 
ing year the first house was erected. A pleasant stream 
winds along the eastern part of the town, and tumbles 
over a limestone ledge in a little cataract. The capitol 
is a brick building, stuccoed, with a handsome center 
reached by a broad flight of steps, and with spacious 
wings. It was built by the United States during the 
territorial government. It stands in the center of the 
town surrounded by a large open square. The usual 
chambers for the legislative, judicial, and executive 
bodies are found here. 

In one of the offices a cm'ious piece of antiquity is 
preserved. It is the fragments of a complete suit of 
ancient steel armour ploughed up in a field near Monti- 
cello. From its appearance it is judged to date from 
the sixteenth century. 

QUINCY 

lies twenty-four miles west of Tallahassee, (fare $1.50) 
the present terminus of the railroad. (Pop. 1,000). 

^ofeZ*.— Willard's, in the centre of the town, and 
Wood's, at the railroad depot. Both $2.50 per day — 
$10.00 a week. 

Boarding House. — *Mrs. Ann Innes ; same prices. 

Churches. — Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Methodist. 

Newspaper. — The Quincy Monitor^ a well conducted 
Journal. 

The vicinity is a rolling, pine country, with limestone 
sub-soil. Plenty of marl is found, suitable for fertiliz- 
ing. Cotton, corn, tobacco, and vines are cultivated 
with success. There is an agricultural association, of 



86 

which Judge C. H. Dupont is president. Some caves and 
other natural curiosities are found in the vicinity. 

Stages run from Quincy to Chatahoochee, tri-weekly ; 
fare S5.00 — twenty miles — an exhorbitant charge. The 
boarding house in Chatahoochee, $2.00 per day. The 
steamer from Columbus and Bainbridge, Ga., touch: at 
Chatahoochee daily ; fare to Apalachicola, $5.00. 

TALLAHASSEE TO ST. MARKS. 

By St. Marks Railroad — distance twenty-one miles ; 
time, one hour and thirty minutes. There is no hotel 
at St. Marks, and but one boarding house, that of Mrs. 
Eliza Barber, $3.50 per day, $12.00 per week. There 
are excellent hunting and fishing in this vicinity, and 
boats can be hired at yery reasonable prices, but horses 
are scarce. The town is an old Spanish settlement, 
and some remains of the ancient fortifications are still 
visible in the vicinity. It was first settled under the 
name of San Marcos de Apalache, in 1718, by Don 
Joseph Primo. At one time it was a port of some 
promise, but has now fallen into insignificance. 

It is situated at the junction of the St. Marks and 
"Wakulla rivers. The latter stream is ten miles in 
length, and takes its rise in the famous *Wakulla foun- 
tain. The name is the Creek word wanJcuUa, (w-nasal) 
South. It is a remarkable curiosity, and should be vis- 
ited by those who have the time. The most pleasant 
— and most expensive — means is to hire a carriage at 
Tallahassee, from which the spring is seventeen miles 
distant. 

The country in the vicinity is low and flat, covered 
with dense groves of cypress, liveoak, &c. The spring 



87 

is oval in shape, about thirty yards in diameter, and 
quite deep. On the eastern side is a rocky ledge, 
whence the stream issues. The water is cool, im- 
pregnated with lime, and of a marvellous clearness* 
Troops of fishes can be seen disporting themselves in 
the transparent depths. 

Mr. Wise, of the Coast Survey, found bottom at 
eighty-eighty feet, the lead being plainly visible at that 
depth. In the same vicinity the Ocilla, Wacillaj 
and Spring Creek Springs are likewise subterranean 
streams, which boil up from great depths in fountains 
of perfect clearness. 

NEWPORT, 

A few miles from St. Marks, on the St. Marks river, 
was at one time a place of considerable summer resort, 
but is now but little visited. Near by is a natural 
bridge, over the river, which is esteemed sufficiently 
curious to attract occasional visitors. 



88 

5. THE OKIiAWAHA RIVER AKD THE SILVER 

SPRING. 

Boats leave Jacksonville andPalatka every Thursday 
for Lake Griffin. Time from Palatka to Silver Spring, 
forty hours ; fare, $5,00 ; distance, 100 miles. The boats 
are necessarily small, and the accommodations limited. 

The Oklawaha, so called from one of the seven clans 
of the Seminoles, falls into the St. John opposite the 
town of Welaka. It is only within a few years that, at 
a considerable expenditure, it has been rendered navi- 
gable. Its mouth is hardly noticed in ascending the St. 
John. 

At Welaka, leaving the broad, placid bosom of the 
former river, the little steamer enters a narrow, swift 
and tortuous stream, overhung by enormous cypresses. 
Its width is from twenty to forty yards, and its depth 
from fifteen to twenty feet. li^atural, leafy curtains of 
vines and aquatic plants veil its banks. 

Twelve miles from the mouth the boat passes 

dayenport's bluff, 

On the right bank, where there are a few houses. Above 
this point the "Narrows " commence and extend eight 
miles. The river is divided into numerous branches, 
separated by wet cypress islands. Dense, monotonous 
forests of cypress, curled maple, black and prickly ash 
cabbage trees, and loblolly bays shut in the stream on 
both sides. 
Seventeen miles above Davenport's Blufi" are the 

^BLUE SPRIKGS. 

These rise in the river itself about four feet from 
the right bank. They are warmer than the river water, 



89 

and when seen ia the sun's rays have a dark blue tinge. 
They have never been analyzed. 

Nine miles above these springs the pine woods, abut 
on the river, and there is a settlement on the right 
hand bank called 

FORT BROOKE. 

This is within two miles of *Orange Spring, a sul- 
phur spring, with strongly impregnated waters, but at 
present without accommodations for travelers. It is to 
be hoped that this will not contiaue^ as it is one of the 
most admirable of the many medicinal springs of Florida. 

Twelve miles above is 

PAINE '8 LANDING y. 

near where the waters of Orange Lake drain into the 
river. 

One and a half miles beyond is a settlement with the 
jDretty name lola. A few miles further up " forty foot 
Bluff" commences, which skirts the river several miles, 
here and there separated from it by cypress groves. 

As the steamer ascends, the banks become higher, 
pines more frequent along the shore, and cultivated 
fields more numerous. 

At length, at a distance of 100 miles from the mouth 
of the river, the crystal current of *=Silver Spring Run, 
here as large as the river itself above the junction, 
pours into the coffee-colored waters of the Oklawaha. 
The Run is ten miles in length, with extensive savan« 



* A good description of Silver Spring is found in Gen. McOalPs 
Letters from the Frontier, p. 149, and a more scientific one in my 
Notes On the Floridian Peninsula. Appendix I. 



90 

nas on either side, shut in by a distant wall of pines. 
In the spring months these savannas are covered with 
thousands of beautiful and fragrant flowers.* The 
stream is rapid, with an average width of 100 feet, and 
a depth of twenty feet. The water is perfectly clear^ 
so that the bottom is distinctly visible. At places, it is 
clothed with dark green sedge, swaying to and fro in 
the current; at others, ridges of grey sand and white 
shells offer a pleasant contrast. 

The Spring-head forms an oval basin, 150 yards long, 
100 feet wide, and forty feet deep. The water gushes from 
a large opening about 5 feet high, and fifteen feet long, 
under a ledge of limestone at the north-eastern extre- 
mity. It is free from any unpleasant taste, has a tem- 
perature of 73 degrees Fah., and is so transparent that 
a small coin can be distinctly seen on the bottom of the 
deepest part of the basin. When the basin is seen with 
the sunbeams falling upon it at a certain angle their 
refraction gives the sides and bottom the appearance 
of being elevated and tinged with the hues of the 
rainbow. 

Some observations I took about a mile below the ba- 
sin, with a three mcli log, at a time when the water was 
at an average height, show that this fountain throws 
out about three hundred million gallons every twenty- 
four hours, or more than twenty times the amount con- 
sumed daily by Kew York city. 

At Silver Spring stages meet the boat for 

OCALA, 

The county seat of Marion co., nine miles distant. 
The intervening country is rolling, with pine woods 



91 

and hammocks. Ocala is a neat town, with about 300 
inhabitants, two hotels, $1.50 per day, $25.00 per mo. ; 
several boardmg houses ; two newspapers, Uast Florida 
Banner ; livery stable ; physician, Br. T. P. Gary ; 
several churches ; mail three times a week by stage to 
Gainesville on the Florida R. E., fare for one passenger 
to Gainesville, $6.00 ; mail stage to Tampa. 

This portion of the State impresses the visitor favor- 
ably, and is well adapted for sugar cane and fruit, but 
it is cursed with malarial fevers of severe type. 
A few miles south of the town are the remains of 
Fort King, a military post in the Seminole war, and 
six miles south, near the road to Tampa, there is a cave 
of some size in the limestone rock. 

Returning now to the Oklawaha, and pursuing our 
journey up that river, no change in the monotony of 
the cypress swamp occurs for about sixteen miles above 
Silver Spring run. At this distance is the small settle- 
ment Cow Ford. Beyond it the cypress disappears, 
and a savanna covered with dense saw grass stretches 
on either side for one or two miles from the river. This 
portion of the river has been but recently cleared and 
it was not till early in 1868 that the first steamboats 
could make their trips through this part. The chief 
difficulty encountered was thefloating islands[which cov- 
ered the river, sometimes so thickly that no sign of its 
course was visible. They were composed mainly of 
the curious aquatic plant the pistia spathulata. These 
had to be sawed in pieces and the fragments suffered to 
float down, or fastened to the shore. 

After passing through these savannas some miles 
the boat enters Lake Griffin,. a narrow lake about nine 



92 

miles long. Several thriving settlements are on its 
banks, which present a diversity of soil, swamp, ham- 
mock, and pme land. 

Six miles beyond Lage Griffin is Lake Eustis, a 
smaller body of water, but more pleasing to the eye. 
The settlement of Fort Mason is upon its shores. 

Beyond Lake Eustis a deep channel a mile and a 
half long called the JSTarrows leads to Lake Harris. It 
is fourteen miles in length and in some parts seven 
miles wide. Much of the land upon its banks is of the 
best quality. The Oklawaha enters it at its south- 
western extremity. 

LEESBURG, 

A small village, passed between Lakes Griffin and 
Harris, is now the county seat of Sumter county. About 
five miles above Lake Harris is Lake Dunham, the head 
of navigation of the ^Oklawaha. A settlement on this 
lake bearing the name Oklawha is the terminus. 

All this country south of Silver Spring Run is laid 
down quite incorrectly on all maps but the last edition 
of Mr. Drew's " Map of Florida." 



93 

7, FROM FERWANDINA TO CEDAR KEYS. 

(Florida Kailroad ; distance 15i miles ; time 11 liorn-s, 
30 min. Fare $11.00.) 

The train, on leaving Fernandina, runs southward on 
Amelia Island, for about three miles, through a forest 
of pine and live oak with an undergrowth of myrtle and 
palmetto. The road then turns westward and crosses 
the salt marshes, and a narrow arm of the sea, the lat- 
ter about twenty-five yards wide, which separate the 
island from the main. Beyond these, it enters the low 
pine lands of Nassau county. They are unproductive, 
thinly inhabited, and to the traveler extremely mo- 
notonous. The first station is Callahan (27 miles) ; the 
next Baldwin (Florida House), where a connection is 
made with the Pensacola and Georgia Eailway for Tal- 
lahassee, Jacksonville, etc. 

The country gradually rises and improves in quality 
of soil beyond this point, but houses continue sparse. 
The station next beyond is Trail Ridge (15 miles). 
Here the mail is delivered for Middleburg on Black 
Creek, twelve miles east. (See Route up the St. 
John.) 

Much of the land is swampy, and the road crosses a 
number of small water courses, tributaries of Black 
Creek. The traveller is now approaching the Lake 
country of Central Florida. The succeeding small sta- 
tion, Waldo, (22 miles) is in the midst of a group of 
ponds, lakes and extensive swamps. 

They are known as the Ettini ponds. They are sep- 
arated by sand hills and stretches of fertile low-lands. 
Twelve miles beyond "Waldo is 



94 

GAINESVILLE. 

Hotels. — ^Exchange hotel, by Messrs. Barnes & 
Shemwell ; the Magnolia house ; the Bevill house ; 
charges, $2.50 per day. 

Keiospaper. — The Neio Era, (Democrat). 

Tivo Livery Stables, 

Churches. — Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian. 

Gainesville (pop. 1500) is situated in one of the most 
fertile regions of Florida. It is on a portion of the old 
*'Arredondo Grant," which embraced the larger part 
cf the rich Alachua plains, and has been called, not 
without reason, the garden of the State. The soil is a 
sandy loam, resting on limestone. The latter is friable, 
and easily eroded by water. The rains frequently thus 
undermine the soil, which suddenly gives way, forming 
so-called " sinks" and " pot holes," common throughout 
Alachua and the neighboring counties. One of the 
largest is the ^BeviPs Wash Pot, 200 feet in depth, 
into which three small streams plunge by a series of 
leaps. Payne's Prairie, a rich, level tract, twelve miles 
in length, enclosing a pretty lake, commences three 
miles south of Gainesville. 

The famous * Orange Grove commences about twelve 
miles south of Gainesville, and extends nearly around 
Orange Lake. It is probably the largest natural orange 
grove in the^ world, and in the spring when the trees 
are in blossom, perfumes the whole region. 

The Natural Bridge over the Santa Fe river is most 
readily approached from Gainesville, from which it is 
about twenty four miles distant, west of north. The 
road passes through Kewnansville, (the Wilson House, 



95 

widow Frier's boarding house, both $2.25 per day,) a 
place of 200 inhabitants. Kear this place is Warren's 
Cave, a curiosity of local note. The Natural Bridge 
marks, in fact, the spot where the river enters an un- 
derground channel for three miles of its course. Close 
to the bridge are the Wellington Springs, a sulphurous 
source of considerable magnitude, but with no accom ■ 
modations. 

A mail stage with very limited provisions for passen- 
gers, leaves GainsvilleforMicanopy, Ocala, and Tampa, 
three times a week. Travelers arriving at Gainesville, 
on their way to the upper St. John, will do well to hire 
a private conveyance and go by Payne's prairie and the 
Orange Grove to Ocala (thirty-eight miles) and the Sil- 
ver Spring whence they can take the boats on the Ok- 
lawaha. (See page 89.) This trip will show them the 
most fertile portion of central Florida. 

Leaving Gainesville, the train passed over a high, 
rolling, limestone country, through open forests of pine, 
hickory, blackjack, and other hardwood trees. The 
first station. Archer, fifteen miles, (one hotel, $3.00 per 
day,) is in the midst of such scenery. About ten miles 
beyond it the surface descends, and cypress and ham' 
mock become more frequent. 

The next station. Otter Creek, twenty-two miles, is 
on the western border of the dense Gulf hammock, the 
part of it which lies in this vicinity being styled the 
Devil's hammock. 

As it approaches the Gulf, the road crosses a number 
of small creeks and over several arms of the sea, pass- 
ing from island to island until it reaches Cedar Key 



96 

(nineteen miles), where is the terminus. (*Hotel kept 
by Mr. Willard, $3.00 per day.) 

The population of the key is about 400, chiefly en- 
gaged in lumbering. Excellent hunting and fishing can 
be had in the vicinity, and many pretty shells and sea. 
mosses are found along the shore. A hard sand beach, 
half a mile in length, is a favorite promenade. There 
are no horses on the island, but boats, here the only 
means of transportation, can be hired from $3.00 to 
$5.00 a day. Remains of the former Indian occupants, 
such as shell mounds, stone axes, arrowheads, pottery, 
etc., are very abundant. 

Steamers touch at Ceder Keys every day or two, 
providing ready communication with the principal 
points on the Grulf. The fares are about as follows : 
to Tampa, SIO.OO ; Key West, $20.00; Havana, $30.00; 
St. Marks, $10.00 ; Apalachicola, $20.00 ; Pensacola, 
$30.00 ; Kew Orleans, $40.00 ; Mobile, $20.00. 



97 

8 KEY "WEST— THE FLORIDA KEYS AND THE 
GULF COAST. 

KEY WEST. 

jEro^e?5.—*Russell House, George Phillips, proprietor ^ 
on Duval St. ; Florida House, both $2.50 per day,S40.0G 
to $60.00 per month. 

Boar ding-Houses. —John Dixon, Whitehead Street; 
Mrs. E. Armbrister, Duval Street ; Mrs. Clarke ; from. 
$8.00 to $15.00 per week. 

Telegraph to Havana and the north ; office in Naval 
depot building. Post Office opposite the Russell House. 

Churches.— Uomsin Catholic, Episcopal, Baptist, and 
Methodist. 

Bookseller.— B. P. Campbell, Duval Street, (northern 
weeklies, Brinton's Guide-Book). 

Newspaper.— Key West Dispatch, weekly, well edited. 
The Key West Literary Association has a reading-room. 

Steamship Lines.— The Baltimore, Havana, and Kew 
Orleans line, semi-monthly, to Baltimore, $50.00, to 
Havana $10.00, to New Orleans $40.00. The C. H. 
Mallory & Co., line from New York to Galveston and 
New Orleans, semi-weekly ; to New York $40.00, to 
Galveston $40.00. The Spofford and Tilson line from 
New York to Galveston and New Orleans, semi-weekly ; 
to New York $40.00, to New Orleans $40.00. The 
Alliance, United States mail line, to Fort Jefferson, 
Tampa, Cedar Keys, St. Marks, Apalachicola, Pensa- 
cola, and Mobile, the line for the west coast of Florida. 

The name Key West is a corruption of the Spanish 
Cayo Hueso, Bone Key, the latter word being of Indian 
origin ( Arawack, Kairi, island). Formerly it was called 
Thompson's island by the English. It is about six 



98 

miles long and one mile wide, and is formed of an ooli- 
tic coralline limestone. It is the hijjhest point of the 
Florida Keys, yet of such insignificant altitutde that the 
most elevated point is only fifteen feet above the sea 
level. The soil is thin , swampy and but little cultivated. 
It produces, however, a thick jungle-like growth of man- 
groves, cacti, tamarinds, mastics, gum elemi, and simi- 
lar tropical bushes from twelve to fifteen feet in height. 
There is no fresh water except that furnished by e 
rains. Wells are dug in different parts, and reach water 
at the depth of a few feet, but brackish and unpalatable, 
^o closely, indeed, are these wells in connection with 
the surrounding ocean, that the water rises and falls in 
them as the tides do on the shore, but following after 
an interval of about three hours. 

The town is in latitude 24° 33'. It was mcorporated 
in 1829. The present population is 4,800, of which 1500 
are colored. It is situated on the northern part of the 
western end of the island, and has an excellent harbor. 
Duval is the principal street. Rows of cocoauut palms 
line some of the principal avenues, presenting a very 
picturesque appearance. A fine view of the harbor 
and town can be had from the cupola of Mr. Charles 
Tilt, agent of the Baltimore line of steamers. 

Many of the residences are neat and attractive. The 
lower part of the town is known as Conch town. Its 
inhabitants are called Conches, and are principally en- 
gaged in " wrecking," that is, relieving and rescuing the 
numerous vessels which are annually cast away or driven 
ashore on the treacherous Florida reef. The Conches 
are of English descent, their fathers having migrated 
irom the Bahamas. In spite of the dubious reputation 



99 

which they have acquired, they are a hard working and 
sufficient!}'' honest set, and carry on their perilous occu- 
pation if not quite for the sake of humanity, yet content 
with a just salvage. Their favorite vessels are sloops 
of ten to forty tons, which they manage with extraordi- 
nary skill. 

Quite a number of Spaniardsare domesticated in Key 
"West. The dark eyes, rich tresses, graceful forms, and 
delicate feet of the ladies frequently greet the eye. 
Havana is only eighty-four miles distant, with almost 
dail}^ communication. 

Fine oranges, coacoanuts, alligator pears, cigars and 
other good things for which the Pearl of the Antilles 
is famous can readily be obtained. The favorite social 
drink is champerou, a compound of curacoa, eggs, Ja- 
maica spirits and other ingredients. Fish are abundant 
and finely flavored. A variety of sardine has been 
found in the waters near, and has been used commer- 
cially to a limited extent. 

The principal industries are " sponging" and " tur- 
tling." The sponges are collected along the reef and 
shores of the peninsula. From December, 1868, to 
March, 1869, 14,000 pounds were leceived bj^ one mer- 
chant. They are all, however, of inferior quality. 

The turtles are of four varieties. The green turtle 
is the most highly prized as food. They are sometimes 
enormous in size, weighing many hundred pounds. The 
hawks-bill turtle is the variety from which " tortoise 
shell" for combs, etc., is obtained. The loggerhead 
and duck bill are less esteemed. 

Extensive salt works have long been in operation 
here. They produce annually about 30,000 bushels of 



100 

salt by solar evaporation. Corals and shells of unu- 
sual beauty are found among the keys, and can be 
bought for a trifling amount. Handsome canes made 
of the Florida crab-tree, are also to be purchased. 

Key West is a U. S. naval station for supplying ves- 
sels with coal, provisions, etc. There is a Kaval Hos- 
pital near the town, 100 feet in length, and several 
other extensive public buildings. As in a military 
point of view the point is deemed of great importance 
In protecting our gulf coast, the general government has 
gone to large expense in fortifying it. Fort Taj'lor, at 
the entrance of the harbor, is still in process of con- 
struction. When completed, it will mount 200 heavy 
guns. Besides it there are two large batteries, one on 
the extreme north part of the island, and one midway 
between it and Fort Taylor. The Barracks are usually 
occupied by a compan}' of the 5th U. S. Artillery. 

The climate of Key West is the warmest and the 
most equable in the United States. Even in winter the 
south winds are frequently oppressive and debilitating. 
From five to ten "northers" occur every winter, and 
though they are not agreeable on account of the vio- 
lence of the wind, they do not reduce the temperature 
below 40 degrees Fahr. 

Though the proximity of the Gulf Stream renders the 
air very moist, mists and fogs are extremelj'' rare, ow- 
ing to the equability of the temperature, and though 
the hygrometer shows that the air is constantly loaded 
with moisture, this same equability allows the moon 
and stars to shine with a rare and glorious brilliancy, 
such as we see elsewhere on dry and elevated plateaux. 

Another effect of the Gulf Stream miy also be noted. 



101 

Every evening, shortly after sunset, a cloud-bank rises 
along the southern horizon in massive, irregular fleeces, 
dark below and silver gilt above by the rays of the de- 
parting sun. This is the cloud-bank over the Gulf 
Stream, whose vast current of heated waters is rushmg 
silently along, some twelve miles oft'. 

DRY TORTUGAS. FORT JEFFERSON. 

Two steamers of the Alliance Ime from Key West, 
touch monthly at the Tortugas. Also, two schooners 
ply between the two points. 

The Dry Tortugas (Sp. Turtle islands), are a group 
of small coral islands, about a score in number, fifty 
miles west of Key West. Garden Key is the main 
island, upon which Tort Jefferson is situated. It is 
about one mile in circumference, comprising nine acres 
of ground. The fort is an irregular hexagonal struct, 
ure, of double circular walls of brick and earth, with a 
foundation of coral rock. It was commenced in 1846. 
The entrance is through a handsome and massive ^sal- 
lyport. Inside, on the right, are the lighthouse and 
keeper's residence. 

Between the walls the barracks and oflftcers' quarters 
are situated. A well-kept walk of cement leads from 
the sallyport to the latter. Within the inner wall is 
an open space of about fifteen acres, well set in Ber- 
muda grass, and dotted here and there with cocoanut 

palms. 

There is a good library in the fort. Service every 
Sunday by an army chaplain. 

Nearly a thousand prisoners were confined here 
during the war. At one time the yellow fever carried 



102 

off great numbers of them. Sand Key, a barren sand 
bank of twenty-tive acres, is used as a cemetery. Log- 
gerhead Key, some miles west, has a tall and symmet- 
rical lighthouse. Bird Key is a favorite resort of 
turtles. 

MIAMI AND KEY BISCAYNE BAY. 

Mail Schooner on the 1st and 15th of every month 
from Key West. Accommodations poor and insuffi- 
cient. Ko public house, and few settlers at Miami. 

Undoubtedly the finest winter climate in the United 
States, both in point of temperp.ture and health, is to 
be found on the south-eastern coast of Florida. It is 
earnestly to be hoped, for the sake of mvalids, that ac- 
com.modations along the shore at Key Biscayne and at 
the mouth of the Miami, will, before long, be provided, 
and that a Vv^eekly or semi-weekly steamer be rup from 
Key West thither. In the concluding chapters of this 
book I shall give in detail my. reasons for thinking so 
highly of that locality, and shall here describe it with 
some minuteness. One strong argument in its favor I 
insert here.* While it is the very best, it could also be 
made the most accessible part of the sea coast of Florida, 
as the whole journey from the north or north-west 
could be made by water, the only transhipment being 
at Key West. 

On leaving the harbor the schooner takes a southerly 
course, passing on the left numbers of low keys cover- 
ed with dense mangrove bushes, quite concealino- their 
shores. Here and there are gleamini? rids-es of white 
rocks, over* which the breaKers tumble in glittering 
sheets o'' foam. This is a portion of the dreaded reef. 



103 

on which unnumbered vessels have met their destruc- 
tion. These naked islets, uninhabited and surrounded 
by the interminable moan of the ocean, impressed with 
an undefined sense of sadness the early Spanish mar- 
iners. They therefore called them Los Martires (the 
Martyrs) ; " and well they deserve the name," says the 
old chronicler, " for many a man, since then, has met a 
painful death upon them." (Herrera, Hlstoria de las • 
ndias. Dec. /, Lib. IX ^ cap. X.) 

These are kept within sight until the Cape Florida 
light comes into view, (latitude 25 degrees, 39 minutes, 
56 seconds,) on the extreme southern point of KeyBis-^ 
cayne. On rounding the 1 ght, Key Biscayne Bay is 
entered. This is a body of water about twenty-five miles, 
long, and from two to six miles broad. The settlement 
of Miami is on the river of that name, a clear, beauti- 
ful stream, fringed with mangrove, and marked for 
some distance with a long line of coacoanut trees, laden 
with their large, green fruit. At its mouth it is about a 
hundred yards wide, with an average depth of six feet.. 
There are about a dozen settlers on Key Biscayne Bay. 
Lieutenant Governor Gleason resides at Miami, and 
will entertain travelers to the extent that he can. 



At this part of the coast, a ridge of loose coralline 
limestone about four miles in width, and from ten to 
twenty-five feet in height, extends along the shore be- 
tween the bay and the Everglades. K6 ponds of st^- 
nant water are near, and the soil, though not very rich, 
is a loose, sandy loam, exceedingly well adapted for 
garden vegetables and fruit. Arrow root [Maranfa arsm- 
dinacea) and the koonta, an allied plant, grow in great 



104 

abundance, and are highly prized by the Indians as 
lood. 

Arch creek empties into Key Biscayne bay ten miles 
north of the Miami river. It receives its name from a 
^natural arch of limestone rock, fifty feet wide, which 
spans the waters of the stream as they flow through a 
•channel a number of feet below. 

The *Punch bowl is the name given by the sailors to 
a curious natural well about one mile south of the 
mouth of the Miami and close to the shore. It is al- 
ways filled with good sweet water and is greatly resort- 
ed to on that account. 

Game, as deer, bear, turkeys, etc., is very abundant 
iu the pine woods which extend along the coast, and 
fish swarm in countless numbers in the bay. Turtle of 
the finest kinds can be caught on the islets off shore. 
Oysters are plentiful, but smaller and not so well fla- 
vored as on the gulf coast. 

When it is remembered that in addition to these de- 
sirable advantages, the temperature of this favored 
spot is so equable that it does not vary in some years 
more than 25'^, its advantages as a resort for invalids 
will be evident. 

The abundance of game on the shore ridge from Cape 
Sable to the Miami, led it to be chosen as a favorite 
«pot of resort by the Indians, and it is still known dis- 
tinctively as the "Hunting Grounds." lis character is. 
quite uniform. Kear the shore is a breadth of rolling 
prairie land at points quite narrow, at others six miles 
in width, and elevated from three to eight or ten feet 
above high water. This is backed by a ridge about 



105 

one quarter of a mile wide, covered with pines and 
black mangroves. 

Most of the keys arc cut by deep lagoons, and the 
whole of their surfaces are under water at high tide. 
Only a few have any soil fit for vegetables, and settle- 
ments upon them are very scarce. Old and Kew Mata- 
iiumba have springs of fresh water, and were one of 
the last resorts of the ancient Caloosa Indians. Dove 
and Tea Table Keys are said to have the richest soil, 
*'the best I have seen in Florida," says Mr. Wainright, 
of the U. S. Coast Survey. 



106 

9. THE WESTEKN COAST. 
Steamers from Key West touch at all the principal 
points on the western or Gulf coast of the peninsula. 

This coast is very much the same in character 
throughout its whole extent. It is an almost continu- 
ous belt of marsh, cut by innumerable creeks and bay- 
ous, extending from five to fifteen miles into the inte- 
rior. Thousands of small islands covered with stunted 
mangroves, and wholly or in part overflowed at high 
water, conceal the main land. The channels between 
them are usually shallow, with mud bottoms, and in 
parts, the slope of the shore is so gradual that low wa- 
ter exposes a mud flat one to two miles wide. 

From Key West to St. Marks there are two tides 
daily, in the twenty-four (lunar) hours, one, the high- 
est, rising from one foot to one foot six inches. From 
St. Marks to the Mississippi the smaller tide disappears, 
so there remains but one daily. 

Immediately north of Cape Sable, which shows from 
the sea a sand-beach three feet high, are the Thousand 
Isles, some few of which Avere formerly cultivated by 
Spanish planters. Charlotte Harbor, between latitude 
26 degrees 30 seconds and 27 degrees, is entered by the 
Boca Grande, which has fifteen feet of water at low tide. 
The bay itself has a depth of three or four fathoms. At 
its southern extremity it receives the waters of Caloo- 
sahatchee river. This stream has a depth of twelve 
feet for thirty-five or forty miles, and with a little ex- 
pense could be rendered navigable for steamboats. 
The lower part of its course is through swamps, but 
about twenty-five miles up, it flows through high lands 
covered with palms, oak. pine, and palmetto. 



107 

Between Charlotte Harbor and Sarasota Bay the 
shore forms a straight line of white sand beach several 
feet in height, and covered with pine and cypress. Sar. 
asota Bay is about twenty miles long, and one to four 
broad, dotted with numerous mangrove islets. Its depth 
is about eight feet. 

Korth of Tampa bay are several small rivers, the 
Pithlo-chas-kotee, or boat-building river, the Chassa- 
howitzka, the Crystal, the Homosassa, and the We- 
thlocco-chee or Withlacooche. Their banks are low 
and marshy, producing little of value except a fine 
variety of cedar. Much of this is exported to France 
and England for the manufacture of lead pencils. 

In the coves where the mud is not too deep oyster 
banks are numerous, and on almost every little stream 
the traveler finds the shell heaps left by the aborigines 
of the country. One of these of unusual size and in- 
terest, on the Crystal River, I have described in the 
Annual Keport of the Smithsonian Institution for 1866, 
p. 356. 

Sponge reefs also occur at various parts of the coast 
and many small vessels are employed in collecting these 
animals and drying them for the market. 

The low lands along the coast are often rich, but 
they are unhealthy. The United States Army Medical 
Reports pronounce them the most unhealthy parts of 
the peninsula. This, however, does not apply to the 
sandy pine tracts south of Tampa Bay, many of w^iich 
still bear the imprint of aa extended cultivation in some 
past time. 



108 

TAMPA. 

HoUls. — ^Florida House, Orange Grove Hotel, both 
S2.00 per day, $35.00 to $40.00 per month. 

Boarding Houses. — Several in number, from $5.00 to 
$10.00 per week. 

Mails. — By steamer, twice weekly; to Brookville, 
weekly. 

Churclies. — Baptist, Methodist, Koman Catholic. 

Newspapers. — The True Southerner , republican ; the 
JFlorida Peninsidar, democratic , both weekly. 

Sailboats and Horses, about $1.00 i^er day. 

Tampa is a town of 600 inhabitants, on the left (east) 
bank of Hillsborouh river, where it empties into Hills- 
borough bay. It is thirty miles from the li^ht house at 
the entrance of the harbor. The soil is poor, covered 
chiefly with pine, red oak and palmettos. 

For many years this lias been an important military 
station. Fort Brooke, commenced 1823, stands on the 
reservaticn near the the town, and additional barracks 
have recently been erected. Several companies of in- 
fantry are here most of the time. 

Excellent hunting and fishing can be had in the vicin- 
ity of Tampa. Th^. oysters in the bay are as large, 
abundant and finely flavored as anywhere on the Gulf 
coast. Tlie orange groves are flourishing and many of 
the inhabitants raise garden vegetables. Old army 
officers have learned to regard it as one of the best sta- 
tions in the United States for providing the mess. 

The land in the vicinity is level. A large Indian 
mound, nearly twenty feet high, stands upon the res- 



109 

ervation, close to the town. Last winter (1869) this 
was opened by a curiosity seeker, and the usual con- 
tents of Florida mounds — bones, pottery, ornaments, 
etc. — taken out. Beautiful specimens of chalcedony 
and fortification agate, well known in mineralogical 
cabinets, are found along the shore, washed out from 
the marl. Above Tampa, on the Hillsborough river y 
is a Sulphur Spring thirty feet in diameter and twelve 
feet deep. At the rapids of the Hillsborough river, 
near the sjDring, a dark bluish siliceous rock, supposed 
to be eocene, crops out. 

MA]!ifATEE 

is a small town six miles from the mouth of Manatee 
river, near the southern entrance of Tamjoa Bay. There 
is no hotel, but accommodations can be had with Judge 
Gates, or other residents. Fine orange groves and su- 
gar plantations are near here. Manatee is a shallow, 
.sluggish stream, two miles wide, with salt water. A 
weekly mail boat with Tampa is the only regular com- 
munication. Historically, Tampa, or Espiritu Santo- 
Bay, as the Spaniards named it, is interesting as the 
landing place of Hernando de Soto in May, 1539. The 
precise spot where his soldiers disembarked cannot 
now be decided. Theodore Irving ( Conquest of Florida j 
p. 58) places it immediately in the village of Tampa, at 
the extreme head of Hillsborough Bay. Buckingham 
Smith, whose studies of the old Spanish maps and re- 
cords of Florida have been most profound, lays it down 
at the entrance of Tampa Bay, on the south bank, be- 
tween Manatee river and the Gulf Shore. But he adds : 
" could I utterly disregard the authority of old maps. 



110 

and an opinion sanctioned by a long succession of wri- 
ters, I should judge the landing-place of Soto to be far 
southward of Tampa." 

After a short stay, the steamer leaves Tampa and 
heads for Cedar Keys, distant one hundred and sixty 
miles ; fare $10.00 ; time twenty-four hours. This has 
already been described. The next point is St. Marks, 
the terminus of the Tallahassee railroad, which has 
already been spoken of in a previous rouie. (Distance 
100 miles from Cedar Keys to St. Marks ; fare $10.00.) 
The steamer next stops at 

APALACHICOLA, 

distant sixty miles from St. Marks. This town, once a 
place of considerable trade, exporting a hundred thou- 
sand bales of cotton a year, is now extremely dull. It 
has a good harbor, and being at the mouth of the Chat- 
tahoochee river, has capacities not yet developed. 
Steamers run from here to Bainbridge, Georgia, and all. 
stations on the river. 

After leaving Apalachicola the steamer heads south- 
ward, the long, low island, St. George's, being visible 
on the left, and St. Vincent's island and the main land 
on the right. Once into the Gulf, no more land is seen 
until the well-fortified entrance to Pensacola harbor 
comes in sight. The town of Warrenton, where the 
United States navy yard is situated, is first seen. It is 
a small place. 

PENSACOLA. 

Kg hotel. Boarding houses by Mrs. Davis, on the 
bea^h, near the depot; Mrs. Knapp, on lutendencia 



Ill 

street; Mrs. Williams, on Palafox, the principal street. 
Mr. Hoifnian, at the depot, has good accommodations 
for a limited number. Gentlemen can obtain lodging- 
rooms above Giovanni's confectionary store, on Pala- 
fox street, and meals at the City Restaurant, opposite 
the square. The charge at the boarding houses is $3.00 
per day, $15.00 per week. 

A daily mail and telegraph office are now there. 
Baths and livery stables convenient. 

Newspapers. — The Pensacola Observer ^ tri-weekly ; 
the West Florida Commercial^ weekly. Reading room 
for gentlemen at the "Gem" restaurant. 

C7mrc7ie5.— Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist. 

Physicians. — Drs. Hargis, Lee. 

Pensacola has about 2000 inhabitants, one-third of 
whom are colored. The bay was discovered in 1559, by 
Don Tristan de Luna y Arellana, who named it Santa 
Maria de Galve. He landed with 1500 men and a num- 
ber of women and children, mtending to establish a 
permanent colony. The neighborhood, however, proved 
barren, the ships were wrecked, and after two years 
the few who survived returned to Mexico. In 1696, 
Don Andres de Arriola made another attempt with 
more success. He constructed a fort at the entrance of 
the harbor, and received the title Governor of Pensa- 
cola, the name being taken from a small native tribe 
called Pensocolos, who dwelt in the vicinity. The 
name is Choctaw, and means "Hairy People." In 1719, 
it was captured by the French, under M. de Serigny^ 
who lost and regained it within the year. In 1721, it 
reverted to Spain, and some attempt was made by that 
power to lay out a city. 



112 

A few old Spanish buildings yet stand, but have 
nothing about them worthy of note. Half a mile north 
of the bay is the site of Fort St. Michael, a commanding 
eminence, with a fine view of the bay and navy yard. 
About six hundred yards north of St. Michael's, stood 
Port St. Bernard, known as el sombrero^ from its resem- 
Hance to a hat. Both these edifices are completely de- 
molished, and a few stones, potsherds, and pieces of 
iron are all that remain to mark their positions. 

The. climate of Pensacola is bracing in winter, but 
not at all suited to consumptives. All such should 
avoid it, as they almost invariably grow worse. The 
pine lands, twenty or thirty miles north of the city, are 
much more favorable to such patients. 

A railroad is just finished from Pensacola to Mont- 
gomery, Ala., which connects this seaport with Louis- 
Yille and the northern States east of the Mississippi. 
Doubtless this will give the old town quite an impetus 
ID growth. A pamphlet setting forth its advantages as 
a seaport and place of residence was published in July 
of the present year (1869) by A. C. Blount, President 
of the railroad. 

MILTON 

Is a pleasant town of about a thousand inhabitants, 
thirty miles from Pensacola. 

Hotels.— E^g\Q and City Hotel, $2.25 a day in each. 

A daily steamboat line connects the two towns (fare 
S2] and a tri-weekly line of hacks runs from Milton to 
Poland, Ala., on the Montgomery & Mobile E. R.^ 
thirty-three miles — fare $5. 

After leaving Pensacola, the next stopping place of 
the steamer is 



113 

MOBILE. 

Hotels. — The Battle House, corner Koyal and St. 
Prancis streets, $4.00 per day, an old established and well 
known house ; *Gult' City Hotel, corner Water and 
Conti streets, $3 per day, $17.50 per week, $65 per 
month, new and good ; Roper House, corner Royal and 
St. Michael streets, same price as Gulf City Hotel, ex- 
cept $50 per month ; Girard House, 123 Dauphin street, 
$2.50 per day ; Goif House, Conti street, not first class. 

Post Office. — In Custom House, opposite the Battle 
House. Telegraph and Express oflSces nearby. 

Bath Rooms. — In Battle House, 50 cents ; in Gulf City 
Hotel, 35 cents, and in a barber shop on St. Francis 
street, opposite the ladies entrance to the Battle 
House, 35 cents. 

Restaurant. — Jenkins' , on Royal street, opposite the 
Battle House, is the best. 

Boolcsdler. — Putnam & Ccr., 52 Dauphin street. 

Livery Stable. — Hay den & Meenan, 39 Royal street, 
near the Roper House ; carriage and driver, for half a 
day, $8.00 ; buggy, for half a day, $5. 

Newspapers. — The Daily Register ; the Daily Tribune. 

Physician. — Dr. T. S. Scales, 128 Dauphin street. 

Omnibusses meet the boats and cars, ar.d street cars 
run on the principal streets — fare five cents and ten 
cents. 

Theaters. — Mobile Theater, Variety Theater, both on 
Royal street. 

The city (population 35,000) is situated about thirty 
miles from the Gulf of Mexico, on the west side of Mo- 
bile Bay. The bay is shallow and the channel tortu- 



114 

ous. The rivals of the city say that the entrance 
is filling up, and will, before many sjenerations, become 
little more than a marsh. The site of the town is on a 
sandy plain, elevated about fifteen feet above high tide, 
and is, consequently, well drained. The houses extend 
along the bay nearly three miles. 

The city was founded by the French at the com- 
mencement of the last century, but remained an insig- 
nificant post until 1819, when it was incorporated. 
Since then it has grown with rapidity, and is now one of 
the most active cotton ports in the United States. Many 
of the buildings are handsome, and though the city suf- 
fered considerably during the war, it is rapidly regain- 
ing its former wealth. An excellent Directory has been 
published by the Southern Publishing Co. 

The Custom House is the finest public edifice. It is 
constructed of marble. 

There is a public square in a central locality, and the 
abundance of hedges of the Cherokee Eose, a flowering 
evergreen, gives the streets a pleasant appearance. 



PAKT III. 

CHAPTERS TO INVALIDS. 



CHAP. 1.— WHEN IS A CHANGE OF CLIMATE 
ADVISABLE ? 

In these days when the slow coach of our fathers has 
long been discarded, and steam and lightning are our 
draught horses, the advantages to health of a change 
of climate should be considered by every one. It is an 
easy, a pleasant, and a sure remedy in many a painful 
disorder. Keed I fortify such an assertion by the dicta 
of high authorities ? One is enough. " It would be 
difficult," says Sir James Clark, M.D., whose name is 
familiar to every phj'^sician in connection with this very 
question, "to point out the chronic complaint, or even 
the disordered state of health which is not benefitted 
by a timely and judicious change of climate." 

Let me run over this catalogue of maladies and 
specify some in which " fresh fields and pastures new " 
are of especial value. All anticipate the first I men- 
tion — pulmonary consumption, — that dreaded scourge 
which year by year destroys more than did the cholera 
in its most fatal epidemics. Even those who lay no 
claim to medical knowledge are well aware how often 
the consumptive prolongs and saves his life by a timely 
change of air ; they are not aAvare — few doctors with 



IIG 

their diplomas are aware — how much oftener this fortu- 
nate result would be obtained were the change made 
with judgment, and the invalid to lend his owm energies 
in this battle for life which his constitution is waging 
against disease. How to make this change with judg- 
ment, and how to employ these energies, these chapters 
are intended to inform him. 

The watchword of the battle is : Courage. It is, in- 
deed, not rare to see those who should have been left 
at home to die surrounded by home comforts, exiled by 
their wearied physician, or dragged by the ignorant so- 
licitude of friends, late in their disease, to some strange 
land, there to meet their inevitable fate, deprived of 
the little luxuries so useful to them, served by unsym- 
pathizing strangers, far from the old, familiar faces. 
There are others who go early enough, and are earnest 
in their efforts to husband their flagging powers. But 
they have chosen a climate ill-adapted to the form of 
their complaint, they know not the precautions they 
should take, they have omitted provisions of essential 
value, in fine, they " die of medicable wounds." 

These examples should not discourage others. The 
medical science of to-day gives its strongest endorse- 
ment to this maxim : Consumption is cureable, IF TAKEN 
IN ITS EARLY STAGES. And in its cure, change of cli- 
mate is an essential element. Kor does science hesi- 
tate to go farther. Even when the lungs are decidedly 
affected, even when the practised ear of the physician 
detects that ominous gurgling sound in the chest which 
reveals the presence of a cavity in the lungs, it still 
says Hope. We know that even then there is a good 
chance for life in many cases. Often the disease has 



11" 

invaded but a very circumscribed portion of lung and all 
the remainder is healthy ; sometimes having gone thus 
far it seems to have spent its malignant powers, and 
rests for years, or disappears altogether; often under 
the genial influence of appropriate climate and regimen, 
the ulcer heals and health is restored. 

Bronchitis is another complaint which calls for change 
of air. There are persons who contract a cough regu- 
larly at the beginning of every winter, which disappears 
only, with the warm spring days. They hawk, and ex- 
pectorate, and have pains in the breast, and a sore ai)d 
tickling throat all the cold months. This is bronchitis, 
chronic bronchitis. Clergymen are very liable to it 
from neglect of precautions in using the voice. It is 
quite common among elderly people, and often paves 
the way for their final illness. In young persons it por- 
tends consumption. Nothing so effectually dispels it as 
a winter in a warm climate. I speak now from my own 
experience. 

There is a disease not less common, hardly less formi- 
dable, often more distressing, more repulsive, than con- 
sumption. It is scrofula — that taint in the blood by 
which the sins of the fathers are visited upon the chil- 
dren unto and beyond the third and fourth generation. 
It often throws around its victims the charms of a strange 
beauty and a precocious, spiritual^ intelligence. But 
the wise physician regards with anxious forbodings 
these signs so prized by loving friends. Here, too, a 
total change of air, diet, surroundings, is urgently, often 
imperatively, demanded. 

One of the banes of our raw, damp atmosphere is 
rheumatism. It is painful, it is common, it is danger- 



118 

ous. In recent j^ears we have learned that a fatal 
complication is alarmingly frequent in this complaint — 
organic disease of the heart. In examining for life in- 
surance, we enquire particularly if the candidate is 
rheumatic. If the answer is affirmative, three times 
out of four we detect some unnatural action in this 
great centre of life. Xow, it is well known how bene- 
ficially a warm, equable climate acts on sufferers with 
this malady. Let them, therefore, be warned in time 
to seek this means of prolonging life. 

There is a complaint which makes us a burden to 
ourselves, and too often a nuisance to our companions. 
It is not dangerous, but is most trying. I mean dys- 
pepsia, a hydra-headed disease, wearing alike to mind 
and body. The habits of our countrymen and country- 
women predispose them to it. In our great cities it is 
exceedingly prevalent. It, too, is always relieved, 
often completely cured by traveling — and often noth- 
ing but this will cure it. 

The same may be said of those states of nervous and 
mental exhaustion, consequent on the harrassing strain 
of our American life, our over-active, excitable, na- 
tional temperament. This exhaustion shows itself in 
the faltering step, the care-worn expression, the dis- 
turbed nutrition, in palpitation, in irritability, in cause- 
less anxiety, and a legion of similar symptoms. Doctors 
call it paresis, and say that it is a new disease, a visita- 
tion of nature upon us for our artificial, unquiet lives. 

There is an era in life when no actual disease is pres- 
ent, when the body visibly yields to the slow and cer- 
tain advance of age. The mind, too, sympathises, and 
loses the keenness of its faculties. With most, this is 



119 

about the age of sixt3^ It has long been noticed how 
fatal this period is. It is known as " the grand climac- 
teric" in works on life. It has also been noticed that 
it is the winter months especially that are dangerous to 
persons at this age. The old Romans had this preg- 
nant expression : " itiimicior seaihus hyems,^^ — winter, 
the foe of the aged. Modern research proves its cor- 
rectness. An English physician, Dr. Day, calculating 
from nearly 55,000 cases over sixty years of age, dis- 
covered the startling fact that the deaths in January 
were within a small fraction twice as inany as in July ! 
Such an unexpected statement reminds us of that sig- 
nificant expression of another distinguished statistician 
who had studied closely the relation of mortality and 
temperature : " Waves of heat are waves of life ; and 
waves of cold are waves of death." With these, and a 
hundred similar warnings before us, we are safe in say- 
ing that in many cases entire relaxation from business 
and two or three winters in a warm climate about the 
age of sixty, will add ten years to life. 

I now approach a delicate topic. A warm climate 
promises aid where medicines are utterly ineffectual. 
I mean.m marriages not blessed by offspring. Most 
readers know how early females are married in the 
tropics. Mothers of fourteen and sixteen years are 
not uncommon. Heat stimulates powerfully the faculty 
of reproduction. The wives of the French colonists in 
Algiers are notably more fertile than when in their 
Korthern homes. So we can with every reason recom- 
mend to childless couples, without definite cause of 
sterility, a winter in the south. I have known most 
happy effects from it. 



120 
CHAP. II.— WHAT CLIMATE SHALIi BS CHOSEIJ' ? 

This is a question of vital importance. An error 
here is fatal. Every person, every case of the same dis- 
ease, is not at a-11 suited by the same climate. Many an 
invalid who would survive for years, if he passed his 
winters in Florida, is sent to die in the cold, dry air of 
Minnesota ; some who would find health at St. Paul, 
choose to perish at St. Augustine; there are some 
whose safety lies in the mountains, others who can find 
it nowhere but on the sea shore. 

Neither patients nor physicians fully appreciate the 
extreme importance of deciding correctly here, and 
abiding by the decision. The invalid is apt to go where 
it is most convenient, or most agreeable for him to go. 
He goes where he has friends. He goes at his peril. 

I have in mind the case of a young priest, the only 
child of his parents, loved by them as an only child is 
loved by the warm Irish heart. Before leaving the 
seminary, unmistakeable signs of consumption showed 
themselves. By assiduous care, he passed the winter 
comfortably, and as spring approached, his disease was 
checked. Every symptom abated. He gained in weight 
and strength. The cough nearly disappeared; the 
night sweats left him ; his appetite returned. When 
summer opened, I said to him : " Go to the mountains. 
Complete restoration awaits you there. Avoid the sea 
shore. It is death to you." I heard nothing more from 
him for two months. Then I was summoned in haste. 
I found him with an irritative fever, with daily chills, 
with a distressing cough. He had been to the mountains 
for several weeks, and had miproved so rapidly that he 
thought himself well, and concluded to join some 



121 

friends on the Atlantic shore. He did so, and the re- 
sult was before me. I then had the most painful duty 
of a physician's life to perform, — that of informing a 
mother that her only child is beyond human aid. 

And here I must say, with all deference to the 
faculty, that the ignorance and carelessness of physi- 
cians in reference to this matter of climate are at most 
reprehensible. Few of them make any distinction in 
cases. They send all consumptives to Minnesota, or to 
Texas, or to Florida, or to Cuba, as if in every instance 
what is sauce for goose is also sauce for gander. Thus 
it happens that the most eligible climates gain a bad 
reputation. They suit many, perhaps most, but they 
do not suit all. Go. to Kice, Kaples, the Isle of Pines, 
you will find invalids who unquestionably, were they 
at home, would be in a better place. This is chiefly 
the fault of their physicians. When a doctor recom- 
mends a climate, and yet is unable to tell you its tem- 
perature, its moisture, its prevailing winds, its seasons, 
its local diseases, its articles of food, its water, its min- 
eral springs, its accommodations for travellers — beware 
of hiui. He is a dangerous counsellor. These facts 
the physician must know to advise wisely. 

There are others which he must learn from the inva- 
lid himself. Constitutions are differently affected by 
climate, and so are cases of the same disease. Some 
climates are sedative and relaxing, others tonic and 
bracing •, some are moist and soothing, others dry and 
steeling. Some constitutions are nervous and irritable, 
others torpid and sluggish ; some have plenty of latent 
force which needs use, in others the vital powers are 
naturally weak, and must be carefully husbanded. In 



122 

some cases, the symptoms are of an iiiflammatory, m 
others of an atonic character ; in some, the secretions 
are scanty, in others profuse ; in some, considerations 
of diet are of great importance, in others they do not 
enter; in some, the cough is importunate, in others, 
hardly annoying — and a hundred other differences might 
be added. The question is a complicated one. . It asks 
for its solution the utmost care of the physician. It 
almost demands the trained skill of the specialist. 

I repeat, therefore, that no climate ^can be recom- 
mended indiscriminately to all ; that the climate must 
be selected by an intelligent physician who has 
carefully studied the case ; that the locality which brings 
life to one, brings death to another; and, therefore, that 
having decided on a change of climate, it is of vital im- 
portance to select the right one. 

The decision between a warm and a cold climate 
must be made somehow thus : If you have usually 
borne cold well, if j'^ou have not been subject to cold 
feet and hands, and disagreeable chilliness ; if you are 
accustomed to out- door exercise in winter ; if you are 
not subject to catarrhs, pneumonia, pleurisy, coughs, 
irritation of the pharynx ; if you are not plethoric ; if 
you are free from rheumatic, neuralgic or gouty pains 
which become worse as winter approaches ; if your throat 
is anaemic rather than congestive, and your liver torpid ; 
if your health is not already too much reduced to stand 
the icy winds of the north ; if you prefer winter to sum- 
mer, and the cold to the hot months ; if heat oppresses 
you and enervates you ;— then if you want to change your 
climate, go to Minnesota, to Labrador, or the Canadian 
highlands. But no, this is not all. Have you a fancy 



123 

for any particular spot among those famous for salu- 
brity ? Is there a pastime or pursuit to which you are 
addicted? Do you love to boat, fish, hunt, ride, camp 
out, botanize, photograph? Indulge your taste. Such 
considerations have quite as much weight as many a 
medical reason. Then there is the question of money. 
If you carry the cares of business with you ; if you have 
to pinch and spare on your journey; if you are worried 
about your expenses, the trip will do you little good. 
I have tried to give accurate accounts of the cost of 
living in the South, so that a traveler may know what 
to expect there. 

All these matters have to be weighed, and from them 
a conclusion reached as to what climate is best. It is a 
complicated question, and it is not enough that the doc- 
tor make his diagnosis and then oracularly pronounce* 
the name of some locality as that best suited for your 
disease. It is easy for him, but it may turn out hard 
for you. 

CHAP. HI— 'WHERE IS THE BEST SOUTHEBNT 
WINTER CLIMATE? 

In studying this question of climate, more particu- 
ularly with reference to those who suffer from diseases 
of the throat and lungs, I have taken some pains to 
satisfy myself whereabout in the South those of them 
whom a Southern climate suits will find the most eligi- 
ble climatic conditions in winter. I shall give the re- 
sult of my studies, though for reasons which will soon 
appear, it is of no great use jiast now. I build for the 
future. 

The model climate for such invalids must satisfy four 



124 

conditions. It must have an equable temperature, 
moderate moisture, moderate and regular winds, and 
freedom from local disease. 

First about temperature. Here the mere amount of 
heat or cold is not so much to be looked at, as what me- 
teorologists call the range. The thermometer should 
show no great difference in the day and the night, or be- 
tween one day and another. Sudden changes should 
not appear on the record. Warmth is desirable because 
it leads to a life in the open air, prevents chilly and close 
rooms, and soothes the irritable air passages. Heat 
^bove seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit is objectionable, 
because it is debilitating, and hinders exercise. 

In the United States, Key West has the warmest cli- 
mate and the least range. Its mean annual tempera- 
ture is 76'^. 5 ; its range 52° Fahrenheit. This is rather 
too hot. Xor is it free from seme other objections. 
The island is small, larren, and uninteresting; there 
are no rides and drives, and violent winds from the 
north and northeast occur more or less every winter. 

Many have lauded the climate of Texas. It is true 
that the hottest portions of that State have a mean an- 
nual temperature of TS*^. But then the winters there 
are as cold as in Southern Georgia, and the range is no- 
where less than TC^, and generally SO*^ to 90^^. Then 
there are the " northers," chilling winds from the north, 
v/hich reduce the temperature 10^ to 20*^ in a fevv^ hours. 
In line, the climate is much less equable than on the 
south Atlantic coast. The winter temperature of most 
of Texas is as low as that of South Carolina. 

This is too low. The mean temperature of Charles- 
ton, S. C, is 66'^, the range nearly 95°. At Savannah 



125 



the temperature of the year is 65'', the range about 90^. 
The summers at these points are hot, the wintei months 
often cold, damp.andraw. It is precisely these months, 
and these only, which interest us just now. To present 
the matter more fully I extract the following table from 
the Medical statistics of the U. S. Arm}-. It is based 
on careful observations extending over many years 
and shows the temperature of each of the winter months 
in a number of places in the South : 



Locality. 



Aiken, S. C.,. 
Chaileston,... 
Savannah, . . . 
Tallahassee, . 

Mobile, 

Pensacola, . . . 
St. Augustine 
New Smyrna, 
Cedar Keys, . 
Tampa Bay, . 

Ocala, 

Miami River, 
Key West, ... 
Corpus Christi, 



December. 



47' 

52 

53 

55 

52 

56 

57 

63 

62 

61 

63 

67 

70 

57 



January. 



45^ 

51 

52 

55 

55 

54 

57 

62 

58 

61 

58 

66 

69 

56 



February. 



50^ 

52 

55 

60 

50 

56 

60 

64 

58 

t;3 

58 
67 
70 

57 



Corpus Christi is the hottest place in Texas ; yet its 
winters are colder than on the eastern coast of Florida, 
and its annual range is 70 degrees. The highest winter 
temperature observed anywhere on the mainland of the 
United States was at Fort Dallas on the Miami river, 
and at Kew Smyrna, some miles north of it, both on the 
east coast of Florida. Furthermore, their range is less 
than anywhere else. During four years that the army 
officeis watched the thermometer at Fort Dallas, the 



126 

highest point reached hj the mercury was 95 degreer^ ; 
the lowest 35 degrees ; a range, therefore, of 60 degrees 
in four j^ears. 

I conclude therefore that the most equable climate 
of the United States is on the south-eastern coast of 
Florida. 

I shall dismiss the second condition in a few words. 
Moist warmth is soothing ; dryness is irritating ; every 
one who has worn a poultice knows this. A moist, warm 
air, moderately charged with vapor, or even approach- 
ing a saturated condition, is therefore, as a rule, most 
agreeable to the air passages, and the general comfort. 
In winter, all along our southern seaboard the air is 
moist; it is sufficiently warm and moist both, nowhere 
but in southeastern Florida, as the table of winter tem- 
peratures shows us. 

A moist atmosphere is not alwajs a rainy one. A 
rainy climate, no matter what other conditions it may 
have, is a detestable one. Southern Florida has a hot 
and rainy season from May to September. Everything 
moulds, and drips, and steams. The rainfall averages 
every year from forty-five to sixty inches. But nearly 
all of it falls in the summer months. In December, 
January and February, two, two and a half, and three 
inches a month are an ordinary average. This means 
that the weather is much more generally fair than foul. 

The third condition is the prevalence of moderate 
and regular winds. I have already hinted about the 
Texan "northers." Similar windstorms occur throughout 
the Gulf States. I have felt them disagreeably at Key 
West, though there the tepid waters of the Gulf of 
Mexico temper their blasts. Sometimes they blow 



127 

-violently for thirty-six or forty-eight hours. On the 
southeastern coast of Florida they are both warmed by 
the Gulf, and lessened in violence by the woods of the 
peninsula. The winds there are in winter usually north, 
northeast, and northwest. In summer a breeze from 
the sea sets in about ten A. M., which often reduces the 
temperature about six degrees in ten minutes, without 
causing other than a pleasant sensation. At night a 
land breeze blows off the land. 

The occasional cold winds in winter are an objection 
from which no part of our southern country is wholly 
free. Moderate winds are essential to the purity of the 
atmosphere, and these generally prevail along the Gulf. 

The fourth condition of climate is a vital one. I have 
witnessed the results of months of care destroyed by, a 
single attack of intermittent fever. I have already 
stated that miasmatic fevers are extremely common in 
the interior of Florida during the summer and early au- 
tumn, but they do not occur on the sea coast during the 
late autumn and winter. 

This is especially true of southeastern Florida. Por- 
tions of our army were stationed there during all sea- 
sons, for a number of years, and the testimony of the 
army surgeons is unanimous and most favorable. And 
let me here remind the reader that the surgeons of the 
United States Army are thoroughly educated physi- 
cians, of unequaled experience in all the variety of cli- 
mate which our country presents, and who, having no 
quarter sections to sell, or other axe to grind, give their 
evidence with the utmost impartiality. Here is one 
quotation from a report to the Surgeon General, dated 
at Fort Pierce, on Indian river : " This post has a cli- 



128 

mate, in every respect, perhaps, unsurpassed by any in 
the world." And these are the words of Dr. R. F. 
Simpson, U. S. A., writing about Fort Dallas, on the 
Miami, the very spot I have been maintaining ap- 
proaches nearest the model climate for consumptives : 
" I have been on duty at most ©f the posts in Florida, 
but none compare with this for salubrity." 

The sea coast of south-east Florida, therefore, fulfils 
the four conditions which make up the best climate for 
a consumptive. I have other testimony about it well 
worth presenting. It, too, comes from the same uniir- 
peachable source, — the medical statistics of the United 
States Army. I preface it by a fact of general interest 
about the whole of Florida. All know how terribly 
arduous must be campaigning through the swamps and 
everglades of that State. Yet the yearly mortality 
from disease of the regular army there, was only twen- 
ty-six per thousand men. The average of the army 
elsewhere was thirty-five per thousand, while in Texas 
it rose to forty, and on the lower Mississippi to fort}''- 
four per thousand. 

But the character of disease interests us most just 
now. We are inquiring particularly about throat and 
lung complaints. These army statistics are here of im. 
mense value. They specify the diseases of each station. 
I have taken these four : Consumption (phthisis pul- 
monalis), bronchitis, inflammation of the lungs (pneu- 
monia), and pleurisy; and have ascertained their rela- 
tive frequency at various points in the South. Here are 
the results (omitting fractions): In Arkanzas, each 
year, one man in every sixteen came under the sur- 
geon's hands, with one or other of these diseases; on 



129 

the southern frontier of Texas, also one in sixteen ; at 
Baton- Eoiige, La., one in seventeen; on the western 
frontier of Texas, one in nineteen ; on the west coast 
of Florida, one in twenty-one ; on the east coast of 
Florida, one in thirty-nine ! 

This is confirmation strong indeed. Even m the fa- 
vored northwest, we may look in vain for anything; 
equal to it. The sick reports of St. Paul, Minn., show 
one in every nineteen, yearly treated for these com- 
plaints. 

Yet till this avails nothing, so long as there are no 
accommodations for invalids, in this favored region, 
none of the conveniences of civilized life, few inhabi- 
tants of any kind, hardly any means of getting there. 
There are bluffs forty feet high and more, on Indian 
river, beautiful localities along Key Biscayne Bay, in a 
glorious climate, healthy beyond any in our country ^ 
very easy of access from Key West, near the best hunt- 
ing grounds of Florida, where an abundance of the most 
delicious tropical fruits could be raised, where fish, sea 
turtles and oysters abound ; all that is needed is a weekly 
steamer from Key West, and a few plain, well kept^ 
moderate priced hotels, to make it the most eligible 
spot in the South for the invalid or the tourist. 

It has other attractions. I have been told that it is 
the only part of Florida where the pine apple will grow 
in the open air. Certainly guavas, pomegrantes, dates, 
alligator pears, (that fruit which it is worth a voyage 
to the tropics to taste,) sugar apples and most of the 
other appetizing luxuries of the torrid zone would 
flourish. 

The climate in winter is serene, from two-and-a-haif 



130 

to three inches of rain falling per month. The mean 
daily marking of the thermometer from iSTovember 
to April is 72°, of the hygrometer 68'^. Here"is another 
hint. The arrow root [maranta arundinacea) grows along 
Key Biscayne in great abundance. It furnishes the very 
Unest form of starch known, a most admirable arti- 
cle of diet for the sick, and a most profitable one 
to the cultivator. Its wholesale price in our markets is 
from fifty to seventy-five cents per pound ; there is al- 
ways a demand for it, and tens of thousands of pounds 
a year could be readily gathered. 

I have already detailed at some length the position, 
soil, etc., of Key Biscayne Bay (ante p. 102). But, as al- 
ready said, I build for the future, and not the present. 
It has the best warm climate in the United States for 
invalids, and it deserves to become a much frequented 
spot. 

CHAP. IV.— SOME HINTS TO HEALTH SEEKERS. 

In the introductory remarks I have thrown out a num- 
ber of suggestions which , every traveler in the South 
will do well to heed. I am now going to servir unplat 
de mon metier — to offer some admonitions to invalids dis- 
tinctively, and especially those suffering or threatened 
with pulmonary and bronchial affections. How often 
■does one see invalids abroad deluding themselves with 
the idea that the climate alone will cure them! Yain 
hope. Better remain at home and die, if need be, than 
undertake long and fatiguing journeys with any such 
expectation. The result in either case is the same. 

There are certain rules of personal hygiene and diet 
vfhich are half the battle, which might win it at home, 



131 

wiiicli will almost surely win it if the right change of 
climate is made in time. They are not applicable to 
all, hut they must form the basis of every regimen. 

And here, once more, I repeat the watchword, Cour- 
age. If improvement is not manifest at once, do not 
become disheartened. Often it is months, often it is 
not until after the return home that the hoped for change 
for the better is obvious. The interim is at best weari- 
some. Make it as cheerful as possible. Valetudinarians 
should not travel alone. They fall easy victims to Giant 
Despair, who is still as ready as ever to pounce on 
unwary travelers, especially on wet days, alone in dull 
country taverns, with nothing to think of but them- 
selves and their own aches and pains. Go in comj^any 
and always have a resource for spare hours. 

Ko resource is better than to collect something. 
There are bugs, and butterflies, and mosses, and fossils, 
and flowers, and Indian curiosities, and species of woods, 
and birds' eggs, and skins, and minerals, the pursuit of 
either one of which will give healthful exercise in fair 
weather, and their arrangement interesting occupation 
when it rains. 

I am almost pleased, for the invalid's sake, to say 
that as for treasures of art, Florida has none. There 
are no interminable picture galleries, or cold, damp 
churches, or belvideres, or other such sesthetic afflictions 
to visit, the frequency of which in Italy is a serious 
drawback to the seeker after health. On the other 
hand, Nature has spread out boundless attractions in 
the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral w^orlds, 
the study of which has ever something soothing and 
rejuvenating. 



132 

Exercise in the open air every day should be taken 
religiously and regularly. The kind of exercise must de- 
pend on circumstances. Rowing develops the chest and 
arms ; walking, the lower limbs ; riding is an excellent 
stimulant of the liver and lungs. When possible, they 
should be alternated. An hour each morning and after- 
noon should be consecrated to this purpose. A cheer- 
ful companion is an admirable adjunct in any of them. 

There is another exercise of the greatest value. Xo 
person with a weak chest should neglect to practice 
every morning and evening, for ten or fifteen minutes 
at a time, deep inspirations. It is done thus : Stand or 
sit erect, throw the chest well forward, the arms back? 
then open the mouth and inhale slowly to the full capa - 
city of the lungs. Retain the air several seconds hy an 
increased effort^ and then let it gradually escape. 
Breathe naturally a few times, then repeat the inspira- 
tion. This simple procedure has a wonderful intiuence. 
It increases the breathing power of the lungs, it expands 
the walls of the chest, in the opinion of some learned 
ph3^sicians. Professor Piorry of Paris for example, it is 
actually curative where tuberculous deposit has already 
taken place. But whenever else exercise is taken, it is 
best not to be before breakfast. Another salutary habit 
is to bathe the whole body every morning with salt and 
water of the temperature of the room. There is no real 
difficulty in this, even when traveling. A sponge or a 
wash towel, and a coarse dry towel for the skin, are all 
that is required. A plunge bath is as good, but not so 
convenient. When neither can be taken, the whole 
person should receive a thorough dry-rubbing. But the 
salt water bath is most usefal to the invalid. 



133 

It would give me great pleasure to discuss at length 
the subject of food. But in fact tourists in most parts 
of the South must make up their minds to such fare as 
they can get, not such as they want. For instance, I 
place in the first line of the bill of fare for consumptives 
the article milk^ fresh rich milk, five or six tumblers of 
it a day, dashed now and then, if you please, with a 
trifle of good old cognac or Jamaica spirits. Xow milk 
is precisely the scarcest article at a Florida hotel in 
winter. 

I lived once for a month on a plantation in the ex- 
treme south of the peninsula. The proprietor had two 
hundred head of cattle— many of the cows with calves 
— yet we actually did not have milk enough for our cof- 
fee. 

In the nextline of my bill of fare I place eggs ; three 
or four a day, boiled soft, or taken in the guise of a 
*'flip," with pale sherry. These, too, are .not always, 
noi" often, to be had for the asking in this country, 
where nature has done so much for the invalid and 
man so little. Fat meat comes next, or, in its place, 
butter and olive oil may be freely used. Coffee and 
chocolate are allowable ; tea barely permissible. To- 
bacco, even the tasteless, "washed," Florida tobacco, 
absolutely prohibited in every form. Some pure rye or 
wheat whisky may be taken, well diluted, three times a 
day, if it causes no unpleasant sensations, but all excess 
should be shunned. And, here, I. advise those who 
wish pure liquors not to depend on hotel bars, restau- 
rants, or provincial drug stores, but to provide them be- 
fore leaving home. 
Whatever food is taken, should be taken as nearly as 



134 

possible at regular hours, in moderate quantities, and 
more frequently than in health. Those who are weak, 
will find great comfort in having a cup of broth, a glass 
of milk punch, or some similar food, placed by their 
bed on retiring, to take during the night. Late sup- 
pers, however, should be avoided. 

In choosing a residence, see that it is at a distance 
from stagnant water, not very densely shaded, and not 
exposed to night fogs. The sleeping room should be on 
an upper floor, with a southerly or westerly exposure, 
and with plenty of air, light, and sunshine. The bed 
should not be in a draft, nor in a recess, nor against the 
w^all. A spring or hair mattress, (cotton, so much used 
in the South, is not objectionable), is most healthful, 
and it is of prime importance to those with weak lungs, 
not to sleep under many covers. The windows may be 
left open nightly, if the situation is dry. 

The question is often asked about exposure to night 
air. Our distinguished literateur, N. P. Willis, long a 
sufferer with pulmonary disease, used to maintain that 
the atmosphere at night was quite as healthful as by 
day. The nightfall, when at dusk the temperature 
rapidly lowers, he found most hurtful. The air at night 
is, as a rule, colder than during the day, and is often 
saturated with moisture. Certainly, therefore, those 
who think with Mr. Willis, will do well to protect 
themselves by extra clothing. The safest plan is to 
avoid exposure, except on unusually clear, mild, and 
dry evenings. 

The final suggestions I have to make are about medi- 
cines. I put them last, because they are, in a certain 
sense, of secondary importance. Many a patient de- 



135 

stroys his digestive powers, and deteriorates his blood 
by pouring down "stomach bitters," "cough syrups,'^ 
" purging pills," and even the more appropriate pre- 
scriptions of his phyflician. Cod-liver oil and iron, with 
perhaps a little syrup of wild cherry at night to allay the 
cough, are the only drugs of much avail in consump- 
tion, and the less one exclusively trusts to these for 
recovering, the better. 

Quinine, prepared in three-grain pills, should be car- 
ried. One pill before breakfast should be taken when- 
ever one is exposed to the marsh miasms. I have already 
suggested a tincture of the peel of the bitter-sweet 
orange in whiskey, for the same purpose. 

Many persons, in traveling, become constipated. 
This is best avoided by diet. The favorite Southern 
breakfast dish, " corn grits," is an admirable laxative. 
Corn bread with molasses, fruit early in the day, or a 
glass of saline mineral water where it can be had, will 
generally be sufficient. If these fail, one of the ordi- 
nary compound cathartic pills can be taken before 
sleep, or one of the following before a meal : 

R. Pidveiized rhubarb, 36 grains. 

Soap, q- s. Make 12 pills. 

A bottle of mild solution of ammonia is useful for 
application to musquito bites and the stings of insects. 

Restlessness at night in strange beds and new sur- 
roundings, is quite common. A bath before retiring, 
or a glass of liot (not warm) water will quiet this ner- 
vous excitement. Granules of morphia, i of a grain 
each, should be carried, but used Tcry sparingly, and 
only to relieve pain. 

The first effect of a warm climate on many constitu- 



136 

tions, is to bring on a "bilious" attack. Headache, 
sick stomach, slight fever and diarrhoea for a few days 
are the unpleasant symptoms of this first brush of accli- 
mation. It can best be avoided by a sparing diet, by 
avoiding fatigue, the rays of the sun, and indulgence^ in 
fruit. The treatment is perfect rest, some citrate of 
magnesia or other cooling laxative, and low diet. 

Those who go by sea save themselves many annoy- 
ances, but in return run the risk of sea-sickness. To 
avoid this, they should go aboard after a moderate 
meal, keep on deck whenever the sea is smooth, remain 
in their births when it is rough, take a little brandy, or? 
what is better, a glass of champagne, when the nausea 
€omes on, and wear a silk handkerchief or broad girdle 
tied tightly "around the stomach. 

By the careful observance of such rules as I have here 
laid down, and such others as everyone's good sense will 
suggest without prompting, those in failing health can 
anticipate the best results from a winter in the South. 
The fears which some entertain from the unpleasant 
feeling toward iJ^ortherners, supposed to exist, are en- 
tirely groundless. I have the best reason to know that 
there need not be the slightest anxiety on this score. 

So, also, about the alleged dangers of travel over 
Southern railroads and in Southern steamboats. In 
point of fact more people are injured on the railroads 
of Kew York than of Florida. Moreover it is quite 
sure, as Thoreau quaintly says in one of his books, 
"We sit as many risks as we run," and it is about as 
safe now-a-days on a railroad or in a steamboat as at 
one's own fireside. Such fears need not give a mom.ent's 
uneasiness. 



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